Nintex Forms 2016 - validation not firing on unconnected controls

Hi ​@scottiwillis,

It is strange that rules are not firing on unconnected controls, as it should not matter if a control is connected or not.

Do you see any errors in the browser development tools that may hint at an issue with the validation?
If the issue persists, I suggest contacting Nintex Support so they can investigate.

Hi there Simon,

Thanks for the reply. I do get one console error “web-client-content-script.js:2  Uncaught (in promise) Error: Could not find identifiable element”, however I get the same error on the Nintex 2013 form where the validation works, so that appears to be a browser based error.

I have logged this issue with Nintex and they are attempting to replicate the issue. Their initial response was:

“Validation rules on unbound controls will not trigger on form submission because Nintex Forms does not validate data stored only in NFFormData. To have validation rules work correctly, controls should be bound to SharePoint list columns or site columns.

However this has not been the case with Nintex Forms for Sharepoint 2013 where the validation rules work for both connected and unconnected controls.

Scott.

Hi ​@scottiwillis,

Are you using a Classic or Responsive form?
Can you provide an example of a validation rule you are using in the repeating section? 

My testing showed that in a responsive form in SharePoint 2016, unbound controls in a Repeating section can have validation rules.  I checked if a control was empty, and it worked.
 

The repeater section highlighted in the screenshot below in green is named “rptApprovers”. Repeater is connected to a list column PaymentRequestApproverDetails. The repeating section has a single line textbox “ApproverName” included in the repeater that is not connected and highlighted in red.

The validation rule for the textbox in the repeater is “Approver Name”. which validates that the field is not empty.

Sharepoint 2013 validation triggers as value is empty

Sharepoint 2016 validation rule not triggered, only checkbox and attachments rules are triggered..

The ApproverName field in the repeater also has control validation, and that does not trigger either. 

Hi ​@scottiwillis,

Is there a reason for having two validation rules for the one control that both do the same thing?

Hey ​@SimonMuntz,

No reason for that, the control rule could be removed.

Nintex support are currently investigating this issue. Their initial advice was that I should connect the field to a list column to enable validation to work, however that does not seem to be correct as the rules do not seem to be dependent on being connected to a column. If that were the case then Nintex should prevent adding a rule to a control that is not connected.

Scott.

Hi ​@scottiwillis,

I don’t think that advice is valid, as you cannot connect controls inside a repeating section.

I have been testing this some more. (same build of forms)
The only conclusion I have is that FormSubmitted is not equal to 1 or InvoiceRequestType is equal to something other than Invoice Payment…..

I tested:  isNullOrEmpty(namecon) && formSub == "1" && Pay != "Option 1 (option)"
namecon is inside the repeating section, and the other two controls are on the outside.

Behaved as expected

Hey ​@SimonMuntz,

This is probably a better example, and is the form that I have exported and supplied to Nintex support. The Employee Details fields are all not connected, and all are failing to have the validation rules triggered.

The form designer shows the GivenNames validation rule:

The calculated field next to the GivenNames text box contains the validation rule formula.

When I submit the form I get the following rules triggered with the calculated field next to the GivenNames text box displaying “true”, so rule should be triggered. None of the validation rules for fields in Employee Details are being triggered.

However, the same form using the older Nintex Forms 2013 shows all rules triggered

Then, If I connect GiveNames to a List column as per highlighted
 

then validation gets triggered 

which seems wrong, as you should not have to connect to a list column for validation to work.

Hi all,

The issue I have with validation not being triggered for unconnected controls has still not been resolved and is currently being investigated by the Nintex developers. Just wanted to ask if anyone in the community has had a similar experience when upgrading to Nintex form for Sharepoint 2016, and if so did you manager a workaround or resolution?

Scott.