How to: add validation (the Validation panel)

Do you struggle with users not filling in the fields you want them to? Here we come. With validation, you can make sure that any form field is filled (or empty) before the user proceeds to the next step. Basically, validation allows a topic to continue only if a form field has a specific value. You can also set up some more advanced conditions such as matches if you want your users to provide, eg. a specific word in the text field.

Validation is available to Standard PRO and Enterprise Plans.

In this article, we’ll describe how to use the Validation panel.

The Validation panel appears in the Authoring Tool when you create and edit steps of your walkthroughs and tooltips. In this article, we will start at this point and won’t include the instruction on how to build a walkthrough or a tooltip as such. To learn how to create a walkthrough, please check this article and to learn how to create a tooltip, go here.

To open the Validation panel:

  1. In the Authoring tool, while you’re editing or adding a walkthrough or a tooltip, select a step from a list of steps or click “+” to create a new one.

  1. Scroll down to the Validation panel and expand the tab. Now, you see the Validation panel.

With the Validation panel, you can set validation rules for text fields that are executed by clicking Next button.

Let’s start with explaining what validation is built of. Validation is made of the following parts:

· An element - you can assign the element you want to apply the validation for. You can select any form field.
· A condition - indicates what values the field should or shouldn’t have for the topic to be able to move to the Next step.

Adding a validation:

You can only use the Validation option when using the Next button as a trigger. When you have validation rules and are trying to add a trigger, you will get this message:

If the next button is not set, you will see a message that you need to turn on the Next button first.

To add a validation:

  1. Click + Add button.

  1. Click Assign button and select a field you want to apply the validation for. The Authoring tool will select the most specific combination of CSS selectors, and the default option is usually the best. However, to manually set the selector, click the pencil icon to edit.

  1. Choose the desired condition to not proceed to next step if a selected field is eg. not equal to. Confirm with the Done button.

Please note that if you assign a select box, you will be able to choose values (each select option has a value and the text that represents it). In the Authoring tool, you will see just values.

  1. You can add multiple conditions to the step. If so, you can specify if all of them has to be met or any.

You can use validation whenever you want to be sure that a field is empty/filled in before the users proceed to the next step. When the validation rule isn’t followed, the pop-over will shake.

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