Gates: linked records hold the door

A gate is a condition over a record's linked records that must hold before it can be posted — "every line item is Approved", "the linked purchase order is Posted". Gates are what make posting relational: no single-table tool can promise anything about the records on the other end of a link. What a gate says Each gate names a route to related records and a condition they must satisfy: every linked Line Item's Status is Approved, the linked PO's Approval status is Posted, no linked Task is still Open. An invoice that carries unapproved line items simply cannot be posted, whoever is pressing the button — the gate is policy, not etiquette. The same routes as everything else Gates travel the exact route vocabulary that lookups, rollups and report columns use — pick the relation, drill in, tap the field. There is no separate predicate language to learn, and a route that works in a filtered rollup works in a gate. Empty is a block, not a pass "Every linked line item is Approved" is vacuously true of an invoice with no line items — and vacuously posting an empty invoice is almost never what anyone meant. So an every linked… gate blocks when there is nothing linked at all, unless you explicitly tick allow zero linked for gates where empty genuinely is fine. Gates are checked when it matters The record's Posting panel shows each gate with a live verdict, so the person shepherding a record can see exactly what is still in the way. Gates are re-evaluated at the moment of posting — a linked record that changed since the panel was drawn can't slip through — and when a linked record changes in a way that clears the last gate, the people who can post are told the record is ready. Tips • Gate on the linked record's own approval status field and approvals compose: line items go through their own stages, and the invoice's gate waits for the outcome. • Pair a gate with cascade sealing — the gate proves the children are ready, the cascade then posts them together with the parent. • A gate label is what people read on the Posting panel while they wait — write it as the requirement ("All line items approved"), not as plumbing. Good to know • An <em>every linked…</em> gate blocks a record with nothing linked unless "allow zero linked" is ticked — a childless invoice is a blocked invoice by default. • Gates guard posting, not submitting — a record can go through its approval stages while its line items are still catching up, and the gate holds only the final door. • The gate reads the linked records as they are right now: if someone unposts a linked PO after the panel was drawn, posting re-checks and refuses with the failing gate named. Who can do what • Gates are part of the posting rules, so adding and editing them is Admin-only. • Gate verdicts on the Posting panel are visible to anyone who can see the record — knowing what's blocking is half the point.