How to Make a Screen's Field Mandatory, and Display an Error if it is Empty

For instructions on how to add a field to your screens in the first place, please read this article: How to Add a New Field to a Name or Matter Screen.

Would you like to both require a field to be filled in when your users are adding a name or matter record, and display an error message to them if that field is not filled in? Read on for instructions.

To determine what screen you need to edit:

1. Open a matter record that uses the screen that you would like to modify.
2. Click the Window menu and hover over or click the Screens menu option. The code for the screen being used is displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the window.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Select a Screen (browse)
   • Screens can also be accessed at File > Setup > User-Defined Screens.
4. Highlight the relevant screen, and click Edit. The Screen Designer appears.
   
   

Edit the field:

1. Right-click on the field that you would like to make required.
2. The Field properties window appears. In the Valid condition field, enter the following expression: if (!empty(Value), .T., ErrBeep(“message”)).
3. In the above, message is the text that you want to appear on the error message when it is displayed. Ex: ErrBeep(“Opened date cannot be empty”).
   
   
   
   
4. Click Done on all open windows..
5. Close any matter windows that you had open, then try adding or editing a matter record which uses the screen that you modified, to verify that the functionality is working.