Validation Rule with multiple picklist fields

Question

I need to create a validation rule that fires where when either "Complete" or "Closed" is chosen from a picklist, another picklist becomes a required field. I have tried multiple options, but have not had luck yet. So far this is what I have tried:

AND (
   ISPICKVAL(Status__c, "Complete" || ISPICKVAL (Status__c, "Closed"),
   NOT(ISCHANGED(Root_Cause__c))
)

Both Root_Cause__c and Status__c are picklists.

I am currently getting a FIELD_CUSTOM_VALIDATION_EXCEPTION error on the page. Anyone have any ideas?

Answer 1

Start with your root criterion, namely this other field being null. The approach may vary based on field type, but that might look like:

ISBLANK(Root_Cause__c)

EDIT Now that you have explicated this field to be a picklist, you can change this check to:

ISPICKVAL(Root_Cause__c, "")

Now layer on top of that your check on the value of Status. You can do it the way you have, but please try to always use functions instead of && and ||, as that will be more consistent with the rest of your formula. So it would be better to do:

OR(ISPICKVAL(...), ISPICKVAL(...))

Better yet, though, is to use a CASE function so that you only reference the field once (field references are expensive):

1 = CASE(Status__c, "Complete", 1, "Closed", 1, 0)

Now the field you actually want to check if it changed should also be this status field. Putting it all together:

AND(
    ISPICKVAL(Root_Cause__c, ""),
    ISCHANGED(Status__c),
    1 = CASE(
        Status__c,
        "Complete", 1,
        "Closed", 1,
        0
    )
)

Answer 2

Your page is a visualforce page? if so, you need to use 'try catch' like below code.

Account acc = new Account();
acc.Name = 'ABC';
try {
    insert acc;
} catch (DmlException e) {
for (Integer i = 0; i < e.getNumDml(); i++) {
    ApexPages.addMessage(new ApexPages.Message(ApexPages.Severity.ERROR, e.getDmlMessage(i)));
}