Link in validation summary message

Question

Is it possible to put a HTML link in validation summary message? For example I want to put a link to another page in case there is validation error:

@Html.ValidationSummary(False, "read <a href=""anotherpage.html"">more</a>")

or

@Html.ValidationSummary(False, "read " &
    Html.ActionLink("more", "helpforerror").ToHtmlString)

But in the browser the tag is escaped so it doesn't form a link.

Answer 1

The validation text is encoded before the ValidationSumary or ValidationFor, etc...

you just need tu decode the html, then create an MvcHtmlString ...

Exemple :

@HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(Html.ValidationSummary().ToString()).ToMvcHtmlString()

this is an extension i have made to make MvcHtmlString :

namespace System
{
    public static class StringExtension
    {
        public static System.Web.Mvc.MvcHtmlString ToMvcHtmlString(this string value)
        {
        return System.Web.Mvc.MvcHtmlString.Create(value);
        }
    }
 }

or you can create an HtmlHelper if you plan to reuse this:

namespace System.Web.Mvc.Html
{
    public static class FormHelper
    {
        public static MvcHtmlString ValidationSummaryEx(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, bool excludePropertyErrors)
        {
            var original = htmlHelper.ValidationSummary(excludePropertyErrors);
            var decoded = HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(original.ToString());
            return decoded.ToMvcHtmlString();
        }
    }
}

Hope it help you or future viewer. Note: it work for all validations Summary and ValidationFor ...

Answer 2

If you're sending back HTML in the ModelStateError, you can use this one liner:

@Html.Raw(HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(Html.ValidationSummary().ToHtmlString()))

It's very similar to what @Benoit had suggested, just without needing the extension.

Answer 3

No, the default behaviour doesn't allow it, but you can make your own. This is what you need: Html raw in validationsummary

Answer 4

I know you have accepted an answer, but i think my solution is more simple and will require less rewriting if you want to add links to existing validation summaries.

You need to put a {0} type format item in your validation message like below, which will be replaced by your link.

ModelState.AddModelError("", "Some error message with a link here {0}.");

then in your view call your validation summary like so:

@string.Format(Html.ValidationSummary().ToString(), Html.ActionLink("Click Here", "Action_To_Link_To")).ToHtmlString()

In this case i have used an extension method I added to the string object .ToHtmlString() that basically just converts the string to an HtmlString preventing any of the markup being escaped. it looks like this:

public static HtmlString ToHtmlString(this String str)
{
    return new HtmlString(str);
}

Answer 5

You can check if form is valid by jquery and update div with link text:

<div id="divToUpdate">

</div>

$('form').submit(function(){
   if(!this.valid())
       $('#divToUpdate').html("read <a href='anotherpage.html'>more</a>"); 
});

Answer 6

Finally I chose another way to do it: create a div containing the link etc. outside of validation summary, and add the div only if modelstate is not valid:

@If Not ViewData.ModelState.IsValid Then
    @<div>read <a href="anotherpage.html">more</a></div>
End If

This is inspired by an answer to similar question.