CODEWITHSUNDEEP
asp.netregexasp.net-mvcdata-annotationsclient-side-validation
zidar
zidar

Reputation: 764

ASP.NET MVC data annotations client side validation with inherited RegularExpressionAttribute

To keep my model validation clean I would like to implement my own validation attributes, like PhoneNumberAttribute and EmailAttribute. Some of these can favorably be be implemented as simple classes that inherit from RegularExpressionAttribute.

However, I noticed that doing this breaks client side validation of these attributes. I am assuming that there is some kind of type binding that fails somewhere.

Any ideas what I can do to get client side validation working?

Code example:

public sealed class MailAddressAttribute : RegularExpressionAttribute
{
    public MailAddressAttribute()
        : base(@"^[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,4}$")
    {
    }
}

Upvotes: 21

Views: 5841

Answers (2)

Cherven
Cherven

Reputation: 1131

extending of the right answer

public class EmailAttribute : RegularExpressionAttribute
{
    static EmailAttribute()
    {
        DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(EmailAttribute), typeof(RegularExpressionAttributeAdapter));
    }

    public EmailAttribute()
        : base(@"^[a-zA-Z0-9_.+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9-]+\.[a-zA-Z0-9-.]+$") //^[a-zA-Z0-9_.+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9-]+\.[a-zA-Z0-9-.]+$
    {

    }
}

Upvotes: 9

cjberg
cjberg

Reputation: 519

You'll need to register a client-side validation adapter for your custom attribute. In this case you can use the existing RegularExpressionAttributeAdapter in System.Web.Mvc, since it should work exactly the same as the standard regex attribute. Then register it when your application start using:

DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(
    typeof(MailAddressAttribute),
    typeof(RegularExpressionAttributeAdapter));

Should you write an attribute that requires custom client-side validation, you can implement your own adapter by inheriting from DataAnnotationsModelValidator (see also Phil Haack's blog).

Upvotes: 32

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