Disable save button when validation fails

Question

As you can likely see from the title, I am about to ask something which has been asked many times before. But still, after reading all these other questions, I cannot find a decent solution to my problem.

I have a model class with basic validation:

partial class Player : IDataErrorInfo
{
    public bool CanSave { get; set; }

    public string this[string columnName]
    {
        get 
        { 
            string result = null;
            if (columnName == "Firstname")
            {
                if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Firstname))
                {
                    result = "Geef een voornaam in";
                }
            }
            if (columnName == "Lastname")
            {
                if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Lastname))
                {
                    result = "Geef een familienaam in";
                }
            }
            if (columnName == "Email")
            {
                try
                {
                    MailAddress email = new MailAddress(Email);
                }
                catch (FormatException)
                {
                    result = "Geef een geldig e-mailadres in";
                }
            }
            if (columnName == "Birthdate")
            {
                if (Birthdate.Value.Date >= DateTime.Now.Date)
                {
                    result = "Geef een geldige geboortedatum in";
                }
            }

            CanSave = true; // this line is wrong
            return result;
        }
    }

    public string Error { get { throw new NotImplementedException();} }
}

This validation is done everytime the property changes (so everytime the user types a character in the textbox):

<TextBox Text="{Binding CurrentPlayer.Firstname, ValidatesOnDataErrors=True, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="137" IsEnabled="{Binding Editing}" Grid.Row="1"/>

This works perfect. The validation occurs (the PropertyChanged code for the binding is done in the VM on the CurrentPlayer property, which is an object of Player).

What I would like to do now is disable the save button when the validation fails.

First of all, the easiest solutions seems to be found in this thread:
Enable Disable save button during Validation using IDataErrorInfo

1. If I want to follow the accepted solution, I'd have to write my validation code twice, as I cannot simply use the indexer. Writing double code is absolutely not what I want, so that's not a solution to my problem.
2. The second answer on that thread sounded very promising as first, but the problem is that I have multiple fields that have to be validated. That way, everything relies on the last checked property (so if that field is filled in correctly, CanSave will be true, even though there are other fields which are still invalid).

One more solution I've found is using an ErrorCount property. But as I'm validating at each property change (and so at each typed character), this isn't possible too - how could I know when to increase/decrease the ErrorCount?

What would be the best way to solve this problem?

Thanks

Answer 1

This approach works with Data Annotations. You can also bind the "IsValid" property to a Save button to enable/disable.

public abstract class ObservableBase : INotifyPropertyChanged, IDataErrorInfo
{
    #region Members
    private readonly Dictionary<string, string> errors = new Dictionary<string, string>();
    #endregion

    #region Events

    /// <summary>
    /// Property Changed Event
    /// </summary>
    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    #endregion

    #region Protected Methods

    /// <summary>
    /// Get the string name for the property
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="expression"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    protected string GetPropertyName<T>(Expression<Func<T>> expression)
    {
        var memberExpression = (MemberExpression) expression.Body;
        return memberExpression.Member.Name;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Notify Property Changed (Shorted method name)
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="expression"></param>
    protected virtual void Notify<T>(Expression<Func<T>> expression)
    {
        string propertyName = this.GetPropertyName(expression);
        PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = this.PropertyChanged;
        handler?.Invoke(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Called when [property changed].
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="expression">The expression.</param>
    protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged<T>(Expression<Func<T>> expression)
    {
        string propertyName = this.GetPropertyName(expression);
        PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = this.PropertyChanged;

        handler?.Invoke(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
    }

    #endregion

    #region Properties

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets an error message indicating what is wrong with this object.
    /// </summary>
    public string Error => null;

    /// <summary>
    /// Returns true if ... is valid.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    ///   <c>true</c> if this instance is valid; otherwise, <c>false</c>.
    /// </value>
    public bool IsValid => this.errors.Count == 0;

    #endregion

    #region Indexer

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the <see cref="System.String"/> with the specified column name.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The <see cref="System.String"/>.
    /// </value>
    /// <param name="columnName">Name of the column.</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public string this[string columnName]
    {
        get
        {
            var validationResults = new List<ValidationResult>();
            string error = null;

            if (Validator.TryValidateProperty(GetType().GetProperty(columnName).GetValue(this), new ValidationContext(this) { MemberName = columnName }, validationResults))
            {
                this.errors.Remove(columnName);
            }
            else
            {
                error = validationResults.First().ErrorMessage;

                if (this.errors.ContainsKey(columnName))
                {
                    this.errors[columnName] = error;
                }
                else
                {
                    this.errors.Add(columnName, error);
                }
            }

            this.OnPropertyChanged(() => this.IsValid);
            return error;
        }
    }

    #endregion  
}

Answer 2

I've implemented the map approach shown in my comment above, in C# this is called a Dictionary in which I am using anonymous methods to do the validation:

partial class Player : IDataErrorInfo
{
    private delegate string Validation(string value);
    private Dictionary<string, Validation> columnValidations;
    public List<string> Errors;

    public Player()
    {
        columnValidations = new Dictionary<string, Validation>();
        columnValidations["Firstname"] = delegate (string value) {
            return String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Firstname) ? "Geef een voornaam in" : null;
        }; // Add the others...

        errors = new List<string>();
    }

    public bool CanSave { get { return Errors.Count == 0; } }

    public string this[string columnName]
    {
        get { return this.GetProperty(columnName); } 

        set
        { 
            var error = columnValidations[columnName](value);

            if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error))
                errors.Add(error);
            else
                this.SetProperty(columnName, value);
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

This article http://www.asp.net/mvc/tutorials/older-versions/models-%28data%29/validating-with-the-idataerrorinfo-interface-cs moves the individual validation into the properties:

public partial class Player : IDataErrorInfo
{
    Dictionary<string, string> _errorInfo;

    public Player()
    {
        _errorInfo = new Dictionary<string, string>();
    }

    public bool CanSave { get { return _errorInfo.Count == 0; }

    public string this[string columnName]
    {
        get 
        { 
            return _errorInfo.ContainsKey(columnName) ? _errorInfo[columnName] : null;
        }
    }

    public string FirstName
    {
        get { return _firstName;}
        set
        {
            if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value))
                _errorInfo.AddOrUpdate("FirstName", "Geef een voornaam in");
            else
            {
                _errorInfo.Remove("FirstName");
                _firstName = value;
            }
        }
    }
}

(you would have to handle the Dictionary AddOrUpdate extension method). This is similar to your error count idea.