Is there a way how to perform a "database" check through the Client Side Validation in MVC?
I have the following class
public class EmailCheck : ValidationAttribute,IClientValidatable
{
protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
{
string sErrorMessage = "Email already exists";
return new ValidationResult(sErrorMessage);
}
public IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context)
{
ModelClientValidationRule validationRule = new ModelClientValidationRule();
validationRule.ValidationType = "checkemail";
validationRule.ErrorMessage = "Invalid Email Format";
validationRule.ValidationParameters.Add("param", "");
return new List<ModelClientValidationRule> { validationRule };
}
}
I would like the Client Side Validation to call the "IsValid" method onkeyup/lost focus as well and not just do the regular javascript checks in the "checkemail" javascript function.
The javascript function i have is the following:
//Validation for Well-Formed Email
jQuery.validator.addMethod("checkemail",
function (value, element, param) {
var emailReg = /^([\w-\.]+#([\w-]+\.)+[\w-]{2,4})?$/;
if (!emailReg.test(value))
return false;
return true;
});
jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.add("checkemail", ["param"], function (options) {
options.rules["checkemail"] = options.params.param;
options.messages["checkemail"] = options.message;
});
I would appreciate if anyone could guide me in the right direction or provide a tutorial of something similar.
Thanks
In your model try to use the "Remote" attribute
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg508808%28v=vs.98%29.aspx
Rusty is correct, you need to use the Remote attribute in your model
Here is another example with complete detail only for email validation in MVC
MVC model validation for email from database in asp.net
Related
I'm trying to write a custom validator that works on the client side that validates that all checkboxes have been ticked.
Here's the declaration on the model:
[DeclarationsAccepted(ErrorMessage = "You must tick all declarations")]
public IList<DeclarationQuestion> DeclarationQuestions { get; set; }
And here's the attribute:
public class DeclarationsAccepted : ValidationAttribute, IClientValidatable
{
protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
{
var questions = value as IList<DeclarationQuestion>;
if (questions != null && questions.All(c => c.Answer))
{
return ValidationResult.Success;
}
return new ValidationResult("You must accepted all declarations to continue");
}
public IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context)
{
var modelClientValidationRule = new ModelClientValidationRule
{
ValidationType = "declarationsaccepted",
ErrorMessage = FormatErrorMessage(metadata.DisplayName)
};
yield return modelClientValidationRule;
}
}
So far so good, works server side.
For the client I'm wiring this up as follows:
jQuery.validator.addMethod('declarationsaccepted', function (value, element, params) {
//Implement logic here to check all boxes are ticked
console.log(value);
return false;
}, '');
jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.add('declarationsaccepted', {}, function (options) {
options.rules['declarationsaccepted'] = true;
options.messages['declarationsaccepted'] = options.message;
});
I'm displaying the checkboxes like this:
#{ var questionIndex = 0; }
#foreach (var question in Model.DeclarationQuestions)
{
#Html.CheckBoxFor(model => Model.DeclarationQuestions[questionIndex].Answer, new { id = "DeclarationQuestions" + questionIndex})
questionIndex++;
}
And then displaying the validation message using this:
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(c => c.DeclarationQuestions)
When I submit the form the message is displayed but only after a post back to the server. Is there any way to get this to work on the client side?
The reason you will not get client side validation is because the html helpers generate data-val-* attributes for controls associated with properties. jquery.validate.unobtrusive reads those attributes when the form is parsed and using rules, displays an error message in the appropriate element generated by ValidationMessageFor() associated with that control (it does this by matching up the id attributes of the elements - the error message is generated in a span with <span for="TheIdOfTheAssociatedControl" ...>).
You don't (and cant) generate a control for property DeclarationQuestions (only for properties of each item in DeclarationQuestions so there is nothing that can be matched up.
You could handle this by including your own error message placeholder and intercepting the .submit event
html (add css to style #conditions-error as display:none;)
<span id="delarations-error" class="field-validation-error">
<span>You must accept all declarations to continue.</span>
</span>
Script
var declarationsError = $('#delarations-error');
$('form').submit(function() {
var isValid = $('.yourCheckBoxClass').not(':checked') == 0;
if(!isValid) {
declarationsError.show(); // display error message
return false; // prevent submit
}
});
$('.yourCheckBoxClass').change(function() {
if($(this).is(':checked')) {
declarationsError.hide(); // hide error message
}
});
Side note: You loop for generating the checkboxes should be
for (int i = 0; i < Model.DeclarationQuestions.Count; i++)
{
#Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m.DeclarationQuestions[i].Answer, new { id = "DeclarationQuestions" + i})
}
I would like to use the asp.net mvc client / server validation coming from a configurable source.
Some like a .config file where I could place infos:
Type, Member, ValidationType
<validations>
<add type="Customer" member="Name" validator="Required" />
<add type="Customer" member="Age" validator="Range" mimimum="18" maximum="100" />
</validations>
With this plan, would be possible to enable/disable validations.
Any idea?
If you need this, consider some more advanced validation framework, for example Enterprise Library Validation Block.
If you want to do it yourself, i would suggest creating custom attribute iniherited from ValidationAttribute like this (partly pseudocode, i am sure you get the idea)
public class ConfigurableValidationAttribute: ValidationAttribute
{
public override bool IsValid(object value)
{
string objectType = value.GetType().FullName;
string objectName = GetMyObjectName(value); // interface? reflection?
var validationRules = GetValidationRulesFor(objectType, name); // from your configuration
foreach (var rule in validationRules)
{
ValidationAttribute attr = null;
switch (rule.ValidatorName)
{
case "Required": attr = new RequiredAttribute();
case "StringLength": attr = // you get the idea
}
if (!attr.IsValid(value)) return false;
}
return true;
}
}
Assume this model:
Public Class Detail
...
<DisplayName("Custom DisplayName")>
<Required(ErrorMessage:="Custom ErrorMessage")>
Public Property PercentChange As Integer
...
end class
and the view:
#Html.TextBoxFor(Function(m) m.PercentChange)
will proceed this html:
<input data-val="true"
data-val-number="The field 'Custom DisplayName' must be a number."
data-val-required="Custom ErrorMessage"
id="PercentChange"
name="PercentChange" type="text" value="0" />
I want to customize the data-val-number error message which I guess has generated because PercentChange is an Integer. I was looking for such an attribute to change it, range or whatever related does not work.
I know there is a chance in editing unobtrusive's js file itself or override it in client side. I want to change data-val-number's error message just like others in server side.
You can override the message by supplying the data-val-number attribute yourself when rendering the field. This overrides the default message. This works at least with MVC 4.
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.MyNumberField, new { data_val_number="Supply an integer, dude!" })
Remember that you have to use underscore in the attribute name for Razor to accept your attribute.
What you have to do is:
Add the following code inside Application_Start() in Global.asax:
ClientDataTypeModelValidatorProvider.ResourceClassKey = "Messages";
DefaultModelBinder.ResourceClassKey = "Messages";
Right click your ASP.NET MVC project in VS. Select Add => Add ASP.NET Folder => App_GlobalResources.
Add a .resx file called Messages.resx in that folder.
Add these string resources in the .resx file:
FieldMustBeDate The field {0} must be a date.
FieldMustBeNumeric The field {0} must be a number.
PropertyValueInvalid The value '{0}' is not valid for {1}.
PropertyValueRequired A value is required.
Change the FieldMustBeNumeric value as you want... :)
You're done.
Check this post for more details:
Localizing Default Error Messages in ASP.NET MVC and WebForms
This is not gonna be easy. The default message is stored as an embedded resource into the System.Web.Mvc assembly and the method that is fetching is a private static method of an internal sealed inner class (System.Web.Mvc.ClientDataTypeModelValidatorProvider+NumericModelValidator.MakeErrorString). It's as if the guy at Microsoft coding this was hiding a top secret :-)
You may take a look at the following blog post which describes a possible solution. You basically need to replace the existing ClientDataTypeModelValidatorProvider with a custom one.
If you don't like the hardcore coding that you will need to do you could also replace this integer value inside your view model with a string and have a custom validation attribute on it which would do the parsing and provide a custom error message (which could even be localized).
As an alternate way around this, I applied a RegularExpression attribute to catch the invalid entry and set my message there:
[RegularExpression(#"[0-9]*$", ErrorMessage = "Please enter a valid number ")]
This slightly a hack but this seemed preferable to the complexity the other solutions presented, at least in my particular situation.
EDIT: This worked well in MVC3 but it seems that there may well be better solutions for MVC4+.
From this book on MVC 3 that I have. All you have to do is this:
public class ClientNumberValidatorProvider : ClientDataTypeModelValidatorProvider
{
public override IEnumerable<ModelValidator> GetValidators(ModelMetadata metadata,
ControllerContext context)
{
bool isNumericField = base.GetValidators(metadata, context).Any();
if (isNumericField)
yield return new ClientSideNumberValidator(metadata, context);
}
}
public class ClientSideNumberValidator : ModelValidator
{
public ClientSideNumberValidator(ModelMetadata metadata,
ControllerContext controllerContext) : base(metadata, controllerContext) { }
public override IEnumerable<ModelValidationResult> Validate(object container)
{
yield break; // Do nothing for server-side validation
}
public override IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules()
{
yield return new ModelClientValidationRule {
ValidationType = "number",
ErrorMessage = string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture,
ValidationMessages.MustBeNumber,
Metadata.GetDisplayName())
};
}
}
protected void Application_Start()
{
// Leave the rest of this method unchanged
var existingProvider = ModelValidatorProviders.Providers
.Single(x => x is ClientDataTypeModelValidatorProvider);
ModelValidatorProviders.Providers.Remove(existingProvider);
ModelValidatorProviders.Providers.Add(new ClientNumberValidatorProvider());
}
Notice how the ErrorMessage is yielded, you specify the current culture and the localized message is extracted from the ValidationMessages(here be culture specifics).resx resource file. If you don't need that, just replace it with your own message.
Here is another solution which changes the message client side without changed MVC3 source. Full details in this blog post:
https://greenicicle.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/fixing-non-localizable-validation-messages-with-javascript/
In short what you need to do is include the following script after jQuery validation is loaded plus the appropriate localisation file.
(function ($) {
// Walk through the adapters that connect unobstrusive validation to jQuery.validate.
// Look for all adapters that perform number validation
$.each($.validator.unobtrusive.adapters, function () {
if (this.name === "number") {
// Get the method called by the adapter, and replace it with one
// that changes the message to the jQuery.validate default message
// that can be globalized. If that string contains a {0} placeholder,
// it is replaced by the field name.
var baseAdapt = this.adapt;
this.adapt = function (options) {
var fieldName = new RegExp("The field (.+) must be a number").exec(options.message)[1];
options.message = $.validator.format($.validator.messages.number, fieldName);
baseAdapt(options);
};
}
});
} (jQuery));
You can set ResourceKey of ClientDataTypeModelValidatorProvider class to name of a global resource that contains FieldMustBeNumeric key to replace MVC validation error message of number with your custom message. Also key of date validation error message is FieldMustBeDate.
ClientDataTypeModelValidatorProvider.ResourceKey="MyResources"; // MyResource is my global resource
See here for more details on how to add the MyResources.resx file to your project:
Here is another solution in pure js that works if you want to specify messages globally not custom messages for each item.
The key is that validation messages are set using jquery.validation.unobtrusive.js using the data-val-xxx attribute on each element, so all you have to do is to replace those messages before the library uses them, it is a bit dirty but I just wanted to get the work done and fast, so here it goes for number type validation:
$('[data-val-number]').each(function () {
var el = $(this);
var orig = el.data('val-number');
var fieldName = orig.replace('The field ', '');
fieldName = fieldName.replace(' must be a number.', '');
el.attr('data-val-number', fieldName + ' باید عددی باشد')
});
the good thing is that it does not require compiling and you can extend it easily later, not robust though, but fast.
Check this out too:
The Complete Guide To Validation In ASP.NET MVC 3 - Part 2
Main parts of the article follow (copy-pasted).
There are four distinct parts to creating a fully functional custom validator that works on both the client and the server. First we subclass ValidationAttribute and add our server side validation logic. Next we implement IClientValidatable on our attribute to allow HTML5 data-* attributes to be passed to the client. Thirdly, we write a custom JavaScript function that performs validation on the client. Finally, we create an adapter to transform the HTML5 attributes into a format that our custom function can understand. Whilst this sounds like a lot of work, once you get started you will find it relatively straightforward.
Subclassing ValidationAttribute
In this example, we are going to write a NotEqualTo validator that simply checks that the value of one property does not equal the value of another.
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property, AllowMultiple = false, Inherited = true)]
public sealed class NotEqualToAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
private const string DefaultErrorMessage = "{0} cannot be the same as {1}.";
public string OtherProperty { get; private set; }
public NotEqualToAttribute(string otherProperty)
: base(DefaultErrorMessage)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(otherProperty))
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("otherProperty");
}
OtherProperty = otherProperty;
}
public override string FormatErrorMessage(string name)
{
return string.Format(ErrorMessageString, name, OtherProperty);
}
protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value,
ValidationContext validationContext)
{
if (value != null)
{
var otherProperty = validationContext.ObjectInstance.GetType()
.GetProperty(OtherProperty);
var otherPropertyValue = otherProperty
.GetValue(validationContext.ObjectInstance, null);
if (value.Equals(otherPropertyValue))
{
return new ValidationResult(
FormatErrorMessage(validationContext.DisplayName));
}
}
return ValidationResult.Success;
}
}
Add the new attribute to the password property of the RegisterModel and run the application.
[Required]
[DataType(DataType.Password)]
[Display(Name = "Password")]
[NotEqualTo("UserName")]
public string Password { get; set; }
...
Implementing IClientValidatable
ASP.NET MVC 2 had a mechanism for adding client side validation but it was not very pretty. Thankfully in MVC 3, things have improved and the process is now fairly trivial and thankfully does not involve changing the Global.asax as in the previous version.
The first step is for your custom validation attribute to implement IClientValidatable. This is a simple, one method interface:
public IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules(
ModelMetadata metadata,
ControllerContext context)
{
var clientValidationRule = new ModelClientValidationRule()
{
ErrorMessage = FormatErrorMessage(metadata.GetDisplayName()),
ValidationType = "notequalto"
};
clientValidationRule.ValidationParameters.Add("otherproperty", OtherProperty);
return new[] { clientValidationRule };
}
If you run the application now and view source, you will see that the password input html now contains your notequalto data attributes:
<div class="editor-field">
<input data-val="true" data-val-notequalto="Password cannot be the same as UserName."
data-val-notequalto-otherproperty="UserName"
data-val-regex="Weak password detected."
data-val-regex-pattern="^(?!password$)(?!12345$).*"
data-val-required="The Password field is required."
id="Password" name="Password" type="password" />
<span class="hint">Enter your password here</span>
<span class="field-validation-valid" data-valmsg-for="Password"
data-valmsg-replace="true"></span>
</div>
Creating a custom jQuery validate function
All of this code is best to be placed in a separate JavaScript file.
(function ($) {
$.validator.addMethod("notequalto", function (value, element, params) {
if (!this.optional(element)) {
var otherProp = $('#' + params);
return (otherProp.val() !=
}
return true;
});
$.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.addSingleVal("notequalto", "otherproperty");
}(jQuery));
Depending on your validation requirements, you may find that the jquery.validate library already has the code that you need for the validation itself. There are lots of validators in jquery.validate that have not been implemented or mapped to data annotations, so if these fulfil your need, then all you need to write in javascript is an adapter or even a call to a built-in adapter which can be as little as a single line. Take a look inside jquery.validate.js to find out what is available.
Using an existing jquery.validate.unobtrusive adapter
The job of the adapter is to read the HTML5 data-* attributes on your form element and convert this data into a form that can be understood by jquery.validate and your custom validation function. You are not required to do all the work yourself though and in many cases, you can call a built-in adapter. jquery.validate.unobtrusive declares three built-in adapters which can be used in the majority of situations. These are:
jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.addBool - used when your validator does not need any additional data.
jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.addSingleVal - used when your validator takes in one piece of additional data.
jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.addMinMax - used when your validator deals with minimum and maximum values such as range or string length.
If your validator does not fit into one of these categories, you are required to write your own adapter using the jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.add method. This is not as difficulty as it sounds and we'll see an example later in the article.
We use the addSingleVal method, passing in the name of the adapter and the name of the single value that we want to pass. Should the name of the validation function differ from the adapter, you can pass in a third parameter (ruleName):
jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.addSingleVal("notequalto", "otherproperty", "mynotequaltofunction");
At this point, our custom validator is complete.
For better understanding refer to the article itself which presents more description and a more complex example.
HTH.
I just did this and then used a regex expression:
$(document).ready(function () {
$.validator.methods.number = function (e) {
return true;
};
});
[RegularExpression(#"^[0-9\.]*$", ErrorMessage = "Invalid Amount")]
public decimal? Amount { get; set; }
Or you can simply do this.
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.PercentChange, "Custom Message: Input value must be a number"), new { #style = "display:none" })
Hope this helps.
I make this putting this on my view
#Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.BenefNamePos, Model.Options, new { onchange = "changePosition(this);", #class="form-control", data_val_number = "This is my custom message" })
I have this problem in KendoGrid, I use a script at the END of View to override data-val-number:
#(Html.Kendo().Grid<Test.ViewModel>(Model)
.Name("listado")
...
.Columns(columns =>
{
columns.Bound("idElementColumn").Filterable(false);
...
}
And at least, in the end of View I put:
<script type="text/javascript">
$("#listado").on("click", function (e) {
$(".k-grid #idElementColumn").attr('data-val-number', 'Ingrese un número.');
});
</script>
a simple method is, use dataanotation change message on ViewModel:
[Required(ErrorMessage ="الزامی")]
[StringLength(maximumLength:50,MinimumLength =2)]
[Display(Name = "نام")]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
I have the following unit test defined to test my model binder:
[TestMethod]
public void DateTime_Works() {
// Arrange
var controllerContext = FakeContext.GetAuthenticatedControllerContext(new Mock<Controller>().Object, "TestAdmin");
var values = new NameValueCollection {
{ "Foo.Date", "12/02/1964" },
{ "Foo.Hour", "12" },
{ "Foo.Minute", "00" },
{ "Foo.Second", "00" }
};
var bindingContext = new ModelBindingContext() { ModelName = "Foo", ValueProvider = new NameValueCollectionValueProvider(values, null) };
var binder = new DateAndTimeModelBinder();
// Act
var result = (DateTime)binder.BindModel(controllerContext, bindingContext);
// Assert
Assert.AreEqual(DateTime.Parse("1964-12-02 12:00:00"), result);
}
Here is the FakeContext class:
public static class FakeContext {
public static HttpContextBase GetHttpContext(string username) {
var context = new Mock<HttpContextBase>();
context.SetupGet(ctx => ctx.Request.IsAuthenticated).Returns(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(username));
return context.Object;
}
public static ControllerContext GetControllerContext(Controller controller) {
return GetAuthenticatedControllerContext(controller, null);
}
public static ControllerContext GetAuthenticatedControllerContext(Controller controller, string username) {
var httpContext = GetHttpContext(username);
return new ControllerContext(httpContext, new RouteData(), controller);
}
}
Within my model binder i call a utility method which has the following line in it:
HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated
This seems to always return false even when I pass a username in. I was wondering how the GetHttpContext method can be modified to mock this out aswell.
I'd appreciate the help. Thanks
You are mocking the IsAuthenticated property of the Request and not of the User Identity. Your mock is indicating that the request has been authenticated, but has nothing to do with the identity authentication.
Changing your mock up a little should fix your problem.
var identityMock = new Mock<IIdentity>();
identityMock.SetupGet( i => i.IsAuthenticated ).Returns( !string.IsNullOrEmpty(username));
var userMock = new Mock<IPrincipal>();
userMock.SetupGet( u => u.Identity ). Returns( identityMock.Object );
var context = new Mock<HttpContextBase>();
context.SetupGet( ctx => ctx.User ).Returns( userMock.Object );
Edit The more I thought about it the more I felt these mocks needed to be setup seperatly
Note, I have not executed this code. It should get you what you need however.
MSDN for Request.IsAuthenticated
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.httprequest.isauthenticated.aspx
MSDN for User.Identity.IsAuthenticated
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.principal.iidentity.isauthenticated.aspx
Hope this helps.
You could use Moq and follow the advice found here:
Moq: unit testing a method relying on HttpContext
I need to validate 3 or more input fields (required at lest one). For example I have Email, Fax, Phone.
I require at least ONE to be filled in. I need both server and client 'unobtrusive validation'. please help. I looked into "Compare" method and tried modifying it but no luck. please help.
thanks
You could write a custom attribute:
public class AtLeastOneRequiredAttribute : ValidationAttribute, IClientValidatable
{
private readonly string[] _properties;
public AtLeastOneRequiredAttribute(params string[] properties)
{
_properties = properties;
}
protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
{
if (_properties == null || _properties.Length < 1)
{
return null;
}
foreach (var property in _properties)
{
var propertyInfo = validationContext.ObjectType.GetProperty(property);
if (propertyInfo == null)
{
return new ValidationResult(string.Format("unknown property {0}", property));
}
var propertyValue = propertyInfo.GetValue(validationContext.ObjectInstance, null);
if (propertyValue is string && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(propertyValue as string))
{
return null;
}
if (propertyValue != null)
{
return null;
}
}
return new ValidationResult(FormatErrorMessage(validationContext.DisplayName));
}
public IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context)
{
var rule = new ModelClientValidationRule
{
ErrorMessage = ErrorMessage,
ValidationType = "atleastonerequired"
};
rule.ValidationParameters["properties"] = string.Join(",", _properties);
yield return rule;
}
}
which could be used to decorate one of your view model properties (the one you want to get highlighted if validation fails):
public class MyViewModel
{
[AtLeastOneRequired("Email", "Fax", "Phone", ErrorMessage = "At least Email, Fax or Phone is required")]
public string Email { get; set; }
public string Fax { get; set; }
public string Phone { get; set; }
}
and then a simple controller:
public class HomeController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
var model = new MyViewModel();
return View(model);
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Index(MyViewModel model)
{
return View(model);
}
}
Rendering the following view which will take care of defining the custom client side validator adapter:
#model MyViewModel
<script src="#Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="#Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.add(
'atleastonerequired', ['properties'], function (options) {
options.rules['atleastonerequired'] = options.params;
options.messages['atleastonerequired'] = options.message;
}
);
jQuery.validator.addMethod('atleastonerequired', function (value, element, params) {
var properties = params.properties.split(',');
var values = $.map(properties, function (property, index) {
var val = $('#' + property).val();
return val != '' ? val : null;
});
return values.length > 0;
}, '');
</script>
#using (Html.BeginForm())
{
#Html.ValidationSummary(false)
<div>
#Html.LabelFor(x => x.Email)
#Html.EditorFor(x => x.Email)
</div>
<div>
#Html.LabelFor(x => x.Fax)
#Html.EditorFor(x => x.Fax)
</div>
<div>
#Html.LabelFor(x => x.Phone)
#Html.EditorFor(x => x.Phone)
</div>
<input type="submit" value="OK" />
}
Of course the custom adapter and validator rule should be externalized into a separate javascript file to avoid mixing script with markup.
I spent more than 36 hours why the code did not work for me.. At the end , I found out that in my case , I was not supposed to use the property names in this line of code
[AtLeastOneRequired("Email", "Fax", "Phone", ErrorMessage = "At least Email, Fax or Phone is required")]
But I had to use the HTMl element Ids in place of the property names and it worked like magic.
Posting this here if it might help somebody.
Since you are using MVC 3, take a look at great video Brad Wilson had on mvcConf. There's everything you need to create client + server Unobtrusive Validation
#Darin Dimitrov 's solution is probably the standard of creating a custom validation attribute that works with unobtrusive validation. However, using custom validation attributes for unobtrusive validation have some disadvantages such as:
The custom validation attribute is only attached to one properties, so client validation will not work if there's a change event on the other two inputs.
The error message works fine with ValidationSummary, but if you want to display 1 error message for the whole group (which I think is the norm), it would be nearly impossible.
To avoid the first problem, we can add custom validation attribute to each element in the group, which will cause another problem: we have to validate all elements of the group, instead of stopping at the first invalid group element. And of course, the second problem - separate error messages for each element - still remains.
There's another way to handle client side validation of group of inputs, using groups setting in jquery validator (https://jqueryvalidation.org/validate/#groups). The only problem (and a big one) is that unobtrusive validation doesn't support jquery validation's groups by default, so we have to customize a little bit.
Although this answer is hardly "unobtrusive", in my opinion, it is worth trying to get rid of unnecessary complication of code, if your final goal is to validate a group of inputs while using Microsoft's unobtrusive validator library.
First, because groups settings of default jquery validator is not available in jquery unobtrusive validator, we have to override unobtrusive settings (ref. How can I customize the unobtrusive validation in ASP.NET MVC 3 to match my style?)
$("form").on('submit', function () {
var form = this;
var validator = $(this).data("validator");
if (validator.settings && !validator.settings.submitHandler) {
$.extend(true, validator.settings.rules, validationSettings.rules);
$.extend(true, validator.settings.groups, validationSettings.groups);
initGroups(validator);
var fnErrorReplacement = validator.settings.errorPlacement;
validator.settings.errorPlacement = function (error, element) {
validationSettings.errorPlacement(error, element, fnErrorReplacement, form);
}
validator.settings.submitHandler = formSubmitHandler;
}
});
function formSubmitHandler(form) {
form.submit();
}
After that, override unobtrusive validator's groups, rules and errorPlacement settings.
var validationSettings = {
groups: {
checkboxgroup: "Email Fax Phone"
},
rules: {
Email: {
required: function () {
return validateCheckboxGroup(["#Email", "#Fax", "#Phone"]);
}
},
Fax: {
required: function () {
return validateCheckboxGroup(["#Email", "#Fax", "#Phone"]);
}
},
Phone: {
required: function () {
return validateCheckboxGroup(["#Email", "#Fax", "#Phone"]);
}
}
}
,
errorPlacement: function (error, element, fnUnobtrusive, form) {
switch (element.attr("name")) {
case "Email":
case "Fax":
case "Phone":
onGroupError(error, "CheckBoxGroup", form);
break;
default:
fnUnobtrusive(error, element);
break;
}
}
}
function validateCheckboxGroup(names) {
var result = true;
$.each(names, function (index, value) {
if ($(value).is(":checked")) {
result = false;
}
});
return result;
}
Because unobtrusive validator does not implement groups setting of jquery validator, we need to reuse two functions from the two libraries to: (1).split group names (reusing code from jquery validator) and (2) append error element without remove 'input-validation-error' class (reusing function onError from unobtrusive library).
function initGroups(validators) {
validators.groups = {};
$.each(validators.settings.groups,
function (key, value) {
if (typeof value === "string") {
value = value.split(/\s/);
}
$.each(value,
function (index, name) {
validators.groups[name] = key;
});
});
}
function onGroupError(error, inputElementName, form) {
var container = $(form).find("[data-valmsg-for='" + inputElementName + "']"),
replaceAttrValue = container.attr("data-valmsg-replace"),
replace = replaceAttrValue ? $.parseJSON(replaceAttrValue) !== false : null;
container.removeClass("field-validation-valid").addClass("field-validation-error");
error.data("unobtrusiveContainer", container);
if (replace) {
container.empty();
error.appendTo(container);
}
else {
error.hide();
}
}
Finally, use HtmlExtensions.ValidationMessage to create error span of the checkbox group.
#Html.ValidationMessage("CheckBoxGroup", new { #class = "text-danger" })
The keeping of "input-validation-error" class is necessary, so that jquery validator will validate all 3 elements (Email, Phone, Fax) of checkbox group as a whole, instead of validating one by one. The unobtrusive validation library remove this class by default on function onError, so we have to customize this as shown in function onGroupError above.