Understanding Validations and Constraints

22 Understanding Validations and Constraints

Validations and constraints preserve data integrity and enforce business logic in Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud.

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There are three types of validations that run in Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud:

System Validations: General system checks. For example, a validation checks to see if you're trying to create a node type that already exists. For a list of system validations, see System Validations. System validations are enforced on all data, and you cannot disable them.
Predefined Validations: Validations that are automatically created depending on the type of application that you create. Predefined validations are enforced on all bound data in a dimension, but you can disable them or set the severity level at the dimension level. See Predefined Validations.
Note:
To preserve data integrity, predefined validations run for data objects with these binding statuses. See Binding Status.
- Bound viewpoints run all predefined validations.
- Hierarchy viewpoints that are node set bound or hierarchy set bound run all predefined validations.
- Hierarchy viewpoints that are node type bound run these validations:
  - All node type-level (such as property validations) and application-level validations (such as name uniqueness) are run.
  - Structure-based validations (such as parent-child validations) are run on the hierarchy set in the viewpoint. These validation results may be different from the bound hierarchy set.
- List-type viewpoints that are node type bound run all predefined validations except structure-based validations (such as parent-child validations).
Custom Validations: User-created validations to enforce business logic that is unique to a specific implementation. See Custom Validations.

Constraints check for specific conditions (such as name uniqueness) that can go across node types and dimensions in an application. For example, a constraint could enforce node name uniqueness at the application level, as opposed to a custom validation that runs on nodes for specific node types or hierarchy sets only. They are similar to predefined validations, but you can configure the application or dimension that they apply to and you can add them to Universal applications. See Working with Constraints.

Validations and constraints run when you:

Import data from an external application
Export data to an external application, if Validate before Export is set to Alert or Discontinue on Error. See Managing Export Options.
Manually enter changes in a viewpoint
Load a file with request changes to a viewpoint
Validate a request item
Validate a request
Validate a viewpoint