ISCHANGED in Validation Rule Fires Even Field Is Not Being Updated

Question

I've got a validation rule on the Account sObject that checks whether a field has been updated if another field is not blank.

AND( 
    NOT(ISBLANK(customID__c)), 
    OR( 
        ISCHANGED( BillingCity ),
        ISCHANGED( BillingCountry )
    ) 
)

Then in Apex I'm attempting to update just the customID__c

Account updateAccount = new Account(Id = 'existingaccountid');
updateAccount.put('customID__c', '1234');
update updateAccount;

My problem is, that the validation rule is firing, and it shouldn't be.

Any guidance on how to fix this?

Answer 1

Whether a field has been updated if another field is not blank.

So, if I understood correctly, it will validate if BillingCity is changed when CustomId__c is not blank, then it will show the error message.

It should be AND condition, instead of OR

AND( 
    NOT(ISBLANK(customID__c)), 
        ISCHANGED( BillingCity )
    )

Update as per comments

There should be triggers, processes, workflow rule or other actions must be going on during post update, as this validation rule is not firing at my DE when I update the customField__c.

You should put a debug log to trace this.

Answer 2

I found the issue. Deeper in the validation rule was the following check.

AND( 
    NOT(ISBLANK(customID__c)), 
    RecordType.DeveloperName ='Transactional', 
    OR( 
        ISCHANGED( BillingCity ), 
        ISCHANGED( BillingCountry ), 
        ISCHANGED(customID__c),
    ) 
)

Answer 3

I had the same issue, but it was caused by State and Country picklists.

Any edit to the record was triggering ISCHANGED(BillingCountry) or ISCHANGED(BillingState), even though the user was not editing these fields.

From page 6: http://resources.docs.salesforce.com/228/10/en-us/sfdc/pdf/state_country_picklists_impl_guide.pdf

You can’t use display values in validation rules or workflow rules that use comparison formula functions. If your validation or workflow rules on state or country fields use BEGINS, CONTAINS, ISCHANGED, or REGEX, use ISPICKVAL with state and country code values in your comparison functions