Set ContentType Mandatory FieldRef

Question

I have the following ContentType Elements.xml file in a visual studio project. I need the ArticleStartDate to be mandatory/required. When the deployment happens the field is not required. I can't understand why this is happening.

Can anyone help please?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">

  <Field ID="{DF8D882A-8C54-4E8A-BB60-8D49D0B2E116}"
     Name="Summary"
     DisplayName="Summary"
     RichText="TRUE"
     RichTextMode="ThemeHtml"
     Type="HTML"
     Hidden="FALSE">
  </Field>
  <!-- Parent ContentType: Article Page (0x010100C568DB52D9D0A14D9B2FDCC96666E9F2007948130EC3DB064584E219954237AF3900242457EFB8B24247815D688C526CD44D) -->
  <ContentType ID="0x010100C568DB52D9D0A14D9B2FDCC96666E9F2007948130EC3DB064584E219954237AF3900242457EFB8B24247815D688C526CD44D008a292b3f7b4946538115a7ca60abbe87"
               Name="Toyota News Article"
               Group="Toyota"
               Description="Toyota News Article"
               Inherits="TRUE"
               Overwrite="TRUE"
               Version="0">
    <FieldRefs>
        <!-- ... -->
        <FieldRef ID="{71316CEA-40A0-49f3-8659-F0CEFDBDBD4F}" Name="ArticleStartDate" Required="TRUE" />
    </FieldRefs>
  </ContentType>
</Elements>

Answer 1

Did you try to use Required="True" in both Field and FieldRef element also? Try the example below:

Elements.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">

  <Field ID="{DF8D882A-8C54-4E8A-BB60-8D49D0B2E116}"
     Name="Summary"
     DisplayName="Summary"
     RichText="TRUE"
     Required="True"
     RichTextMode="ThemeHtml"
     Type="HTML"
     Hidden="FALSE">
  </Field>
  <!-- Parent ContentType: Article Page (0x010100C568DB52D9D0A14D9B2FDCC96666E9F2007948130EC3DB064584E219954237AF3900242457EFB8B24247815D688C526CD44D) -->
  <ContentType ID="0x010100C568DB52D9D0A14D9B2FDCC96666E9F2007948130EC3DB064584E219954237AF3900242457EFB8B24247815D688C526CD44D008a292b3f7b4946538115a7ca60abbe87"
               Name="Toyota News Article"
               Group="Toyota"
               Description="Toyota News Article"
               Inherits="TRUE"
               Overwrite="TRUE"
               Version="0">
    <FieldRefs>
        <!-- ... -->
        <FieldRef ID="{71316CEA-40A0-49f3-8659-F0CEFDBDBD4F}" Name="ArticleStartDate" Required="TRUE" />
    </FieldRefs>
  </ContentType>
</Elements>

Answer 2

This content type is associated with a list obviously.

When you add a Content Type to the list definition, the columns are not added automatically; you have to declare them in the list definition also. Go to the Fields section of your schema.xml and append your columns:

Don't forget to add your columns to any views as well.

Also, keep in mind that the required = true only works at the client level. The database will always allow NULLS for custom fields.