Problem/Motivation
When creating a view with an exposed filter (such as a select dropdown) and marking it as "Required", Views forces a default value to be set. This breaks the desired functionality where the form should initially display an empty "Select..." option and not show any results until the user actively selects a value.
For example, if we create a select field with:
- (Empty option) Select City
- City 1
- City 2
...and mark it as required, Views demands that a default value be provided. Once a default is set (e.g., City 1), the exposed form loads with City 1 preselected and results filtered accordingly, instead of waiting for user input. This prevents the form from behaving like a proper required filter.
This issue makes it impossible to build user-friendly, truly required filters that don't show results until a user makes a conscious choice.
Steps to reproduce
1. Create a View with an exposed filter using a select field (e.g., taxonomy or list field).
2. Enable the "Required" checkbox for the exposed filter.
3. Try to save the view without setting a default value â Views throws a validation error requiring a default.
4. Set a default value (e.g., City 1) to proceed.
5. Load the View page â the form loads with City 1 preselected and filtered results displayed, even though no user input occurred.
Proposed resolution
Allow required exposed filters to without default value