Default value "choose..." for droplist

Question

This is what I'm looking for: I have a droplist item that is looking in a particular folder for values to include. However, I would like to specify a default of "Choose..."

Is it possible to do this without actually creating an item in that folder for "Choose..." or is that the only way to do it? I'm concerned with the CMS environment here, not rendering the field on the CD server.

Barring that, is there at least a way to validate that the user isn't saving the item with that initial "Choose" item selected, even if it is set as the default in standard values for the template?

Answer 1

I wouldn't recommend creating artificial value "Choose" in the Drop list even it is possible and rather follow default Sitecore behaviour.

Solution would be a combination of setting proper help Short and Long Description texts for this field (following this Q&A -> How to add helpful text to a Sitecore field ) and setting of Validation rule (Required) for this field (Following this article http://sitecoreworld.blogspot.com/2014/12/sitecore-validation-examples.html).

In later case specify all 4 validation rules:

1. Quick Action Bar
2. Validator Bar
3. User chooses Validate command in the Proofing group on the Review tab
4. User chooses a specific workflow command