Stop wordpress from creating empty/null entries

When i needed a solution to the save “problem” i create an Ajax function to validate the fields and did some minor JQuery hacks:

first we add our JavaScript to capture the submit/publish event and use it to submit our own ajax function before the actual submit

 add_action('wp_print_scripts','my_publish_admin_hook');

function my_publish_admin_hook(){
if (is_admin()){
        ?>
        <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
            jQuery(document).ready(function() {
                jQuery('#post').submit(function() {

                    var form_data = jQuery('#post').serializeArray();
                    form_data = jQuery.param(form_data);
                    var data = {
                        action: 'my_pre_submit_validation',
                        security: '<?php echo wp_create_nonce( 'pre_publish_validation' ); ?>',
                        form_data: form_data
                    };
                    jQuery.post(ajaxurl, data, function(response) {
                        if (response.indexOf('True') > -1 || response.indexOf('true') > -1 || response = true ||  response) {
                            jQuery('#ajax-loading').hide();
                            jQuery('#publish').removeClass('button-primary-disabled');
                            return true;
                        }else{
                            alert("please correct the following errors: " + response);
                            jQuery('#ajax-loading').hide();
                            jQuery('#publish').removeClass('button-primary-disabled');
                            return false;
                        }
                    });
                    return false;
                });
            });
        </script>
        <?php
    }
}

then we create the function to do the actual validation:

add_action('wp_ajax_my_pre_submit_validation', 'pre_submit_validation');
function pre_submit_validation(){
    //simple Security check
    check_ajax_referer( 'pre_publish_validation', 'security' );

    //do your validation here
    //all of the form fields are in $_POST['form_data'] array
    //and return true to submit: echo 'true'; die();
    //or your error message: echo 'bal bla bla'; die();
}

you can always change it up a bit to do the validation on the client side but i prefer on the server side.