CORE HR: Valueset with No Validation

A friend of mine had a query on whether a valueset without any validation in a Key Flexfield. I hope the below note helps.

There is a ton of material available in the metalink and it takes time to read and digest it. Here is a synopsis on valuesets and specifically for validation type = None.

A value set is primarily a container in which we can store any business-specific. Valuesets can be defined so that you define your value set such that it can also validate and check the of values that may be entered by a user. It can prevent any undesirable type of data from entering into the flexfield segments.

There are several types of validation that you can build, such as:
• Number,

• Character,

• Time,

• Standard Date,

• Standard DateTime.

You can also define controls such as
• Length of the values that can be entered,

• Precision (for decimal value entries),

• Numbers (Restrict the entries to only Numbers),

• Uppercase (you can specify whether the value set should be restricted to revieve only uppercase characters),

• Right-Justify and Zero-Fill Numbers: If the allowable size is set to 5 and if a user enters a value 320, then you can have the value to be stored as 00320,

• Minimum Value (You can specify the minimum value that can be stored in the valueset),

• Maximum Value (You can specify the maximum value that can be stored in the valueset)

When you specify Minimum & Maximum values. the user will not be able to enter a value outside that specified range. For example, you can build a value set of Number format type and if you specify the Miminimum as 0 and Maximum as 100, the user can enter only the values between 0 and 100.

As most consultants are aware, a Valueset Validation types include:

• Independent• Dependent• None• Table• Special• Pair• Translatable Independent• Translatable Dependent

Impact of not choosing a valueset for a flexfield Segment:

If you do not choose a value set, the flexfield segment assumes as if it were using a value setwith validation type None, with format type of Char and allows the user to enter values (width) as long as the underlying flexfield segment column, with mixed-case alphabetic characters and will not provide any right justification or zero padding

For example, if the value set does is restricted to allowing only numbers, then the users could enter numbers and not alphabetic characters. The values of the segment using this value set are not otherwise validated, and they will not have descriptions.Note: Because a 'None' type value set is not validated, a segment that uses this value set does not show any list of values for your users. Any flexfield segment that uses this type of value set (a non-validated segment) cannot use flexfield value security rules to restrict the values which a user can enter.