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Shaune1215's avatar
Shaune1215
Copper Contributor
Apr 14, 2024

Conditional formatting for blank FORM fields

{ "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json", "elmType": "div", "style": { "box-sizing": "border-box", "padding": "0 2px", "overfl...
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Tom_B490's avatar
Tom_B490
Copper Contributor
Jun 12, 2024

Shaune1215 

I encounter the same problem when attempting to insert text if a date field is empty.

 

{
    "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json",
    "elmType": "div",
    "txtContent": "=if(@currentField, @currentField.displayValue, 'unset')"
}

 

Unfortunately, it appears that Microsoft has chosen to apply custom formatting in a form view only when the field contains data. The sp-custom-formatted-ReactFieldEditor-Core-Display element does not activate when the field is empty.

 

We will have to wait until Microsoft alters this behavior.

SDawson's avatar
SDawson
Copper Contributor
Jan 29, 2025

The below information is found here:  https://ganeshsanapblogs.wordpress.com/2021/06/20/sharepoint-json-formatting-check-if-date-and-time-column-is-blank-empty/ 

to check if date & time column is blank/empty using SharePoint JSON formatting, you have to use either of below workarounds:

Using Number() function

You can use Number(DateTimeColumn) == 0 to check if the date & time column is blank or not.

Example

{ "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json", "elmType": "div", "txtContent": "=if(Number([$DueDate]) == 0, 'Blank Date', if([$DueDate] < @now, 'Expired', 'Active'))", "attributes": { "class": "=if(Number([$DueDate]) == 0, 'sp-field-severity--warning', if([$DueDate] < @now, 'sp-field-severity--blocked', 'sp-field-severity--good'))" } }

Where [$DueDate] is an https://ganeshsanapblogs.wordpress.com/2023/04/17/how-to-find-the-internal-name-of-sharepoint-columns/.

 

You can also find above JSON at list formatting samples on GitHub: https://github.com/pnp/List-Formatting/tree/master/column-samples/date-check-blank-format

Using toString() function

You can use toString(DateTimeColumn) == '' to check if the date & time column is blank or not.

Example

{ "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json", "elmType": "div", "txtContent": "=if(toString([$DueDate]) == '', 'Blank Date', if([$DueDate] < @now, 'Expired', 'Active'))", "attributes": { "class": "=if(toString([$DueDate]) == '', 'sp-field-severity--warning', if([$DueDate] < @now, 'sp-field-severity--blocked', 'sp-field-severity--good'))" } }

Simplest way

You can also check if date & time column is blank/empty using below JSON:

{ "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json", "elmType": "div", "txtContent": "=if(@currentField, @currentField, 'Blank Date')", "attributes": { "class": "=if(@currentField, 'sp-field-severity--good', 'sp-field-severity--warning')" } }

 

SharePoint JSON formatting – Check if date and time column is blank or empty

 

Learn More

  • https://ganeshsanapblogs.wordpress.com/2021/01/10/working-with-sharepoint-online-microsoft-list-comments-using-json-formatting/
  • https://ganeshsanapblogs.wordpress.com/2022/08/22/sharepoint-replace-all-occurrences-of-substring-in-a-string-using-json-formatting/
  • https://ganeshsanapblogs.wordpress.com/2022/08/23/sharepoint-highlight-selected-list-item-row-using-json-formatting/
  • https://ganeshsanapblogs.wordpress.com/2022/11/12/download-image-from-sharepoint-image-column-using-json-formatting/
  • https://ganeshsanapblogs.wordpress.com/2022/11/10/sharepoint-online-download-files-using-json-formatting/

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