Define required fields in the UI

In Experience Data Model (XDM), a required field indicates that it must be supplied a valid value in order for a particular record or time-series event to be accepted during data ingestion. Common use cases for required fields include user identity information and timestamps.

When defining a new field in the Adobe Experience Platform user interface, you can set it as a required field by selecting the Required checkbox in the right rail. Select Apply to apply the change to the schema.

If the field is a root-level attribute under the tenant ID object, its path immediately appears under Required fields in the left rail.

If a required field is nested within an object that is not marked as required itself, however, then the nested field does not appear under Required fields in the left rail.

In the example below, the internalSKU field is set as required, but its parent object SKUs is not. In this case, no validation errors would occur if SKUs is excluded when ingesting data, even though the child field internalSKU is marked as required. In other words, while SKUs is optional it must contain a internalSKU field in the event that it is included.

If you want a nested field to always be required in a schema, you must also set all parent fields as required (with the exception of the tenant ID object).

Next steps

This guide covered how to define a required field in the UI. See the overview on defining fields in the UI to learn how to define other XDM field types in the Schema Editor.