Custom error message not working for DateTime vali

Question

I have a ViewModel with a String property and the following Data Annotation :

Edit to work with string

[DataType(DataType.Date, ErrorMessage="Not Working !!!")]
public String StringBirthDate1 { get; set; }

That's my view

@Html.EditorFor(model => model.StringBirthDate1 )
@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.StringBirthDate1)

If I run my application and put an invalid Date like '---' or 29.02.1900 I don't get any validation error !

Answer 1

I didn't like any of the solutions I found so I kept poking at possibilities until I came up with one I do like. I added a regular expression validator utilizing the regular expression from this article: http://answers.oreilly.com/topic/226-how-to-validate-traditional-date-formats-with-regular-expressions/

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Birthdate is required. [MM/DD/YYYY]")]
    [RegularExpression(@"^([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[0-2])[- / .]([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-9]|3[0-1])[- / .](1[9][0-9][0-9]|2[0][0-9][0-9])$", ErrorMessage = "Birthdate must be in MM/DD/YYYY format.")]
    public Nullable<DateTime> Birthdate { get; set; }

The result is, if the field is blank I get the required error message and if anything is in the field, but it is not a valid date, I get the regular expression message.

I might add that it seems very silly that [DataType] doesn't accept an error message. I tried exactly like the original author of this thread. That would have been logical and intuitive.

Answer 2

It seems to me, that [DataType(DataType.Date, ErrorMessage="Not Working !!!")] working when it attached to string property. Try to use:

[DataType(DataType.Date, ErrorMessage="Not Working !!!")]
puplic string StringBirthDate1{get;set;}

public DateTime BirthDate1 
{ 
    get{return DateTime.Parse(StringBirthDate1);} 
    set{StringBirthDate1 = value.ToString();} 
}

Answer 3

Ok I've given up trying to use built-in MVC tools for data validation !

I did a custom Validation Attribute :

public class ValidDateStringAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
    public override bool IsValid(object value)
    {
        DateTime dtout;
        if (DateTime.TryParse(value.ToString(), out dtout ))
        {
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }
}

Here is my View Model decorated with the custom attribute :

[ValidDateString(ErrorMessage="Invalid date format")]
public String BirthDate1 { get; set; }

Works like a charm :-)