Is it necessary to include the Page Layouts when deploying new custom objects?

Question

I have a changeset and when I go to View/Add Dependencies, I see this message above a list of page layouts I may add to the changeset:

"A dependency is created when one component needs another component, permission, or preference to be valid. The components in this list have dependencies. Although you don't have to add dependent components to a change set, you should make sure that they exist in the organizations where the change set will be deployed."

None of these page layouts currently exist in my target org for the new custom objects. Do I have to include these page layouts in order for the changeset to deploy? These custom objects only need to be accessible via the API, not via the Salesforce UI.

EDIT: We deployed a changeset with new custom objects to our target org, without any Page Layouts included in the change-set, but when I look at the new custom objects in the target org, they seem to have new Page Layouts assigned to them. Do new custom objects that are deployed without Page Layouts have default page layouts auto-created for them?

Answer 1

Yes page layouts must be added just like custom fields must be added. The change set can still deploy without them, but the page layouts will be missing. EDIT: Salesforce will always create a standard page layout if there is a custom object is deployed without a page layout. Each object must have at least one page layout. If you try to delete the only page layout on an object, it will not let you. An error message that says "Error: You must have at least one page layout" will appear. That is why Salesforce auto-created one.