ASP.NET MVC Conditional validation

Question

How to use data annotations to do a conditional validation on model?

For example, lets say we have the following model (Person and Senior):

public class Person
{
    [Required(ErrorMessage = "*")]
    public string Name
    {
        get;
        set;
    }

    public bool IsSenior
    {
        get;
        set;
    }

    public Senior Senior
    {
        get;
        set;
    }
}

public class Senior
{
    [Required(ErrorMessage = "*")]//this should be conditional validation, based on the "IsSenior" value
    public string Description
    {
        get;
        set;
    }
}

And the following view:

<%= Html.EditorFor(m => m.Name)%>
<%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.Name)%>

<%= Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m.IsSenior)%>
<%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.IsSenior)%>

<%= Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m.Senior.Description)%>
<%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.Senior.Description)%>

I would like to be the "Senior.Description" property conditional required field based on the selection of the "IsSenior" propery (true -> required). How to implement conditional validation in ASP.NET MVC 2 with data annotations?

Answer 1

I had the same problem yesterday but I did it in a very clean way which works for both client side and server side validation.

Condition: Based on the value of other property in the model, you want to make another property required. Here is the code

public class RequiredIfAttribute : RequiredAttribute
{
    private String PropertyName { get; set; }
    private Object DesiredValue { get; set; }

    public RequiredIfAttribute(String propertyName, Object desiredvalue)
    {
        PropertyName = propertyName;
        DesiredValue = desiredvalue;
    }

    protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext context)
    {
        Object instance = context.ObjectInstance;
        Type type = instance.GetType();
        Object proprtyvalue = type.GetProperty(PropertyName).GetValue(instance, null);
        if (proprtyvalue.ToString() == DesiredValue.ToString())
        {
            ValidationResult result = base.IsValid(value, context);
            return result;
        }
        return ValidationResult.Success;
    }
}

Here PropertyName is the property on which you want to make your condition DesiredValue is the particular value of the PropertyName (property) for which your other property has to be validated for required

Say you have the following

public class User
{
    public UserType UserType { get; set; }

    [RequiredIf("UserType", UserType.Admin, ErrorMessageResourceName = "PasswordRequired", ErrorMessageResourceType = typeof(ResourceString))]
    public string Password
    {
        get;
        set;
    }
}

At last but not the least , register adapter for your attribute so that it can do client side validation (I put it in global.asax, Application_Start)

 DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(RequiredIfAttribute),typeof(RequiredAttributeAdapter));

Answer 2

I've been using this amazing nuget that does dynamic annotations ExpressiveAnnotations

You could validate any logic you can dream of:

public string Email { get; set; }
public string Phone { get; set; }
[RequiredIf("Email != null")]
[RequiredIf("Phone != null")]
[AssertThat("AgreeToContact == true")]
public bool? AgreeToContact { get; set; }

Answer 3

there's a much better way to add conditional validation rules in MVC3. Have your model inherit IValidatableObject and implement the Validate method:

public class Person : IValidatableObject
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public bool IsSenior { get; set; }
    public Senior Senior { get; set; }

    public IEnumerable<ValidationResult> Validate(ValidationContext validationContext) 
    { 
        if (IsSenior && string.IsNullOrEmpty(Senior.Description)) 
            yield return new ValidationResult("Description must be supplied.");
    }
}

see more of a description at http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/07/27/introducing-asp-net-mvc-3-preview-1.aspx

Answer 4

I had the same problem, needed a modification of [Required] attribute - make field required in dependence of http request.The solution was similar to Dan Hunex answer, but his solution didn't work correctly (see comments). I don't use unobtrusive validation, just MicrosoftMvcValidation.js out of the box. Here it is. Implement your custom attribute:

public class RequiredIfAttribute : RequiredAttribute
{

    public RequiredIfAttribute(/*You can put here pararmeters if You need, as seen in other answers of this topic*/)
    {

    }

    protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext context)
    {

    //You can put your logic here   

        return ValidationResult.Success;//I don't need its server-side so it always valid on server but you can do what you need
    }


}

Then you need to implement your custom provider to use it as an adapter in your global.asax

public class RequreIfValidator : DataAnnotationsModelValidator <RequiredIfAttribute>
{

    ControllerContext ccontext;
    public RequreIfValidator(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context, RequiredIfAttribute attribute)
       : base(metadata, context, attribute)
    {
        ccontext = context;// I need only http request
    }

//override it for custom client-side validation 
     public override IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules()
     {       
               //here you can customize it as you want
         ModelClientValidationRule rule = new ModelClientValidationRule()
         {
             ErrorMessage = ErrorMessage,
    //and here is what i need on client side - if you want to make field required on client side just make ValidationType "required"    
             ValidationType =(ccontext.HttpContext.Request["extOperation"] == "2") ? "required" : "none";
         };
         return new ModelClientValidationRule[] { rule };
      }
}

And modify your global.asax with a line

DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(RequiredIfAttribute), typeof(RequreIfValidator));

and here it is

[RequiredIf]
public string NomenclatureId { get; set; }

The main advantage for me is that I don't have to code custom client validator as in case of unobtrusive validation. it works just as [Required], but only in cases that you want.

Answer 5

Check out this guy:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/simonince/archive/2010/06/04/conditional-validation-in-mvc.aspx

I am working through his example project right now.

Answer 6

Typical usage for conditional removal of error from Model State:

1. Make conditional first part of controller action
2. Perform logic to remove error from ModelState
3. Do the rest of the existing logic (typically Model State validation, then everything else)

Example:

public ActionResult MyAction(MyViewModel vm)
{
    // perform conditional test
    // if true, then remove from ModelState (e.g. ModelState.Remove("MyKey")

    // Do typical model state validation, inside following if:
    //     if (!ModelState.IsValid)

    // Do rest of logic (e.g. fetching, saving

In your example, keep everything as is and add the logic suggested to your Controller's Action. I'm assuming your ViewModel passed to the controller action has the Person and Senior Person objects with data populated in them from the UI.