InfoPath Dev

I'm very new to Infopath and I know this is a simple fix.  The scenario is when the user checks a particular radio button (1 of 6) and a following entry field is blank, then I want to display an error message.  I added the following data validation to one of my fields but the dialog box is not being displayed. 

OrdType = "2" and SONumber is blank then issue an error message.

I may not be understanding on what event the message is displayed, but I am expecting that when the 2nd radio button is selected but the user does not enter a value and presses the enter key then the dialog box should be displayed.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi -

This seems like it would be correct. I guess the first things I'd check would be if the 2nd radio button's value when selected is actually "2".

I would expect to this validation to fire when the user selected the radio button that sets the OrdType field to 2 - if the SONumber field is blank.

If the SONumber field is further down the form, this validation may be irritating for the user - they haven't had the chance to enter the SONubmer - then again, I'm not sure what field you've put the validation on - OrdType or SONumber?

Thanks for the reply Hilary.

I checked and the value of OrdType is "2" and the validation is on the SONumber field.  The first entry on the form is for the user to select the order type.  Further down the form is SONumber which is flagged with the red asterisk indicating that it is a required entry if the selection on OrdType was "2".  The user is able to tab through to the end of the form without any errors.  I also have a submit button at the end which sends an email to the person responsible.  When the user presses the submit button, a generic error message, "Some rules were not applied", is displayed.  This is not what I expect the user to see as I would like him/her to get a little more detail on the data entry error and as soon as it happens.  By the way, the form has not been published, I am testing the form by previewing it. 

So, the asterisk that is showing - that is considered an error. But since the SONumber field is not being changed, your validation message is not popping up. If what you'd like to do is have that validation error display when the Submit button is clicked you could do something with rules for your submit (instead of submitting directly to a data connection, submit via rules).

If OrdType = 2 and SONumber is blank, you could display a message box (if a Filler form) or, if this is a browser form you could use some conditional formatting to show or hide a calculated value. I think if you set the SONumber and then clear it in rules, you may get a validation box - so that might be worth trying as well. You could also then add a condition to not  submit the form if OrdType = 2 and SONumber is blank, to prevent the generic error from displaying.

Of course, if you want the validation warning to show as soon as OrdType is selected, you can also add the validation to that field.