Unobtrusive validation not working on dynamically-added partial view - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am currently facing a problem with validation after dynamically adding content.
I have a view strongly typed to a model (Order). This Order can have many items. The model looks something like the following:
public class Order
{
[Key]
[HiddenInput]
public int id { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Order Number")]
public string number { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Order Date")]
[DataType(DataType.Date)]
[DisplayFormat(ApplyFormatInEditMode = true, DataFormatString = "{0:MM/dd/yyyy}")]
public DateTime date { get; set; }
[Required(ErrorMessage = "Beneficiary is required.")]
[Display(Name = "Beneficiary")]
public int beneficiary_id { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Beneficiary")]
public Beneficiary beneficiary { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Items")]
public List<Item> items { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Payment Method")]
public List<PaymentMethod> payment_methods { get; set; }
}
I enter the order information and also the items for that specific order. I tried a couple of ways to add content dynamically and finally went with Steven Sanderson's way.
In my view, I have the regular Order information and then the items, where my model looks something like this:
#model trackmeMvc.Models.Model.Order
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Create";
Html.EnableClientValidation();
Html.EnableUnobtrusiveJavaScript();
}
<script src="#Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="#Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="#Url.Content("~/Scripts/MicrosoftAjax.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="#Url.Content("~/Scripts/MicrosoftMvcAjax.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="#Url.Content("~/Scripts/MicrosoftMvcValidation.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
#using (Html.BeginForm("Create", "Order", FormMethod.Post, new { #id = "create_order" }))
{
#Html.ValidationSummary(true, "Order creation was unsuccessful. Please correct the errors and try again.")
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.date)<req>*</req>
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.date, new { #id = "order_date" })<br />
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.date)
</div>
...
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
$("#addItem").click(function () {
var formData = $("#main_div").closest("form").serializeArray();
$.ajax({
url: "/IPO/BlankItemRow",
type: "POST",
//data: formData,
cache: false,
success: function (html) {
$("#editorRows").append(html);
//$.validator.uobtrusive.parseDynamicContent("form *");
//$("#editorRows").removeData("validator");
//$("#editorRows").removeData("unobtrusiveValidation");
//$.validator.unobtrusive.parse("#editorRows");
//$.validator.unobtrusive.parse("#create_ipo");
//$.validator.unobtrusive.parseDynamicContent($(this).first().closest("form"));
//$.validator.unobtrusive.parse($("#new_ipo_item"));
//$.validator.unobtrusive.parseElement($("#editorRows").find(".editRow:last").children().find("select"));
//$("#editorRows").find(".editRow:last").find("select").each(function () {
//alert($(this).attr("id"));
//$.validator.unobtrusive.parseElement($(this));
//$.validator.unobtrusive.parseDynamicContent($(this));
//$.validator.unobtrusive.parseDynamicContent($(this).attr("name"));
//});
//$("#editorRows").children().find(".editRows:last").find("*").each(function () {
// alert($(this).attr('id'));
//$.validator.unobtrusive.parseDynamicContent('input');
//});
//var form = $(this).closest("form").attr("id");
//$(form).removeData("validator");
//$(form).removeData("unobtrusiveValidation");
//$.validator.unobtrusive.parse(form);
}
});
return false;
});
});
</script>
Those are some of the things I tried, and nothing works.
I got the parseDynamicContent from Applying unobtrusive jquery validation to dynamic content in ASP.Net MVC. I tried it in every scenario I could think of, but still no luck.
I also tried the regular parse, removing validation from the form then applying it again, but still the newly added elements are not validated:
<div id="editorRows">
#foreach (var item in Model.items)
{
#Html.Partial("_NewItem", item)
}
</div>
... and my partial view would look something like this:
#model trackmeMvc.Models.Model.Item
#{
Layout = "";
Html.EnableClientValidation(true);
if (this.ViewContext.FormContext == null)
{
this.ViewContext.FormContext = new FormContext();
}
}
<div class="editRow">
#using (Html.BeginCollectionItem("order_items"))
{
#Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.item_id, #items, "None", new { #style = "width:205px;", #id = "ddlItems", #class="ddlItem", #name="ddlItemList" })
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.item_id)
...
}
</div>
So what's happening is, I have one empty item sent from the controller to the view by default, to show one empty row. That item is validated, but whatever comes after when I click add item, another row appears, from that partial, but I can't get it to validate. I tried to put the validation in the partial view, (before the document ready in the main form), and everything I read I applied, and it always ends up the same: validating the first row, and not the others. I tried the validation of Steven Sanderson done for that purpose - still no luck - even the validation for partials, found at this link
and the page that follows which is specific to partial validation...
What should I do to get this validation working?

Answer 1

Ok, I am going to start over with a new answer here.
Before you call $.validator.unobtrusive.parse, remove the original validator and unobtrusive validation from the form like so:
var form = $("#main_div").closest("form");
form.removeData('validator');
form.removeData('unobtrusiveValidation');
$.validator.unobtrusive.parse(form);
This same answer is documented here.

Answer 2

What worked for me was to re-apply the validator after the call to load the partial view. In my case, I'm using $.post().then() but you could do something similar with a .always() callback of an AJAX call.
$.post(url, model, function (data) {
//load the partial view
$("#Partial").html(data);
}).then(function () {
$("form").each(function () { $.data($(this)[0], 'validator', false); });
$.validator.unobtrusive.parse("form");
});