MVC unobtrusive range validation of dynamic values

Question

I have a value on my model, that must fall within the range of two other values on my model.

For example:

public class RangeValidationSampleModel
{
    int Value { get; set; }

    int MinValue { get; set; }

    int MaxValue { get; set; }
}

Of course, I can't pass these Min/MaxValues into my DataAnnotations attributes, as they have to be constant values.

I'm sure I need to build my own validation attribute, but I haven't done this much and can't wrap my mind around how it should work.

I've searched for about an hour, and have seen all sorts of solutions for building custom validation, but can't find anything to solve this particular problem using MVC3 unobtrusive validation.

Answer 1

You could write a custom validation attribute for this purpose:

public class DynamicRangeValidator : ValidationAttribute, IClientValidatable
{
    private readonly string _minPropertyName;
    private readonly string _maxPropertyName;
    public DynamicRangeValidator(string minPropertyName, string maxPropertyName)
    {
        _minPropertyName = minPropertyName;
        _maxPropertyName = maxPropertyName;
    }

    protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
    {
        var minProperty = validationContext.ObjectType.GetProperty(_minPropertyName);
        var maxProperty = validationContext.ObjectType.GetProperty(_maxPropertyName);
        if (minProperty == null)
        {
            return new ValidationResult(string.Format("Unknown property {0}", _minPropertyName));
        }
        if (maxProperty == null)
        {
            return new ValidationResult(string.Format("Unknown property {0}", _maxPropertyName));
        }

        int minValue = (int)minProperty.GetValue(validationContext.ObjectInstance, null);
        int maxValue = (int)maxProperty.GetValue(validationContext.ObjectInstance, null);
        int currentValue = (int)value;
        if (currentValue <= minValue || currentValue >= maxValue)
        {
            return new ValidationResult(
                string.Format(
                    ErrorMessage, 
                    minValue,
                    maxValue
                )
            );
        }

        return null;
    }

    public IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context)
    {
        var rule = new ModelClientValidationRule
        {
            ValidationType = "dynamicrange",
            ErrorMessage = this.ErrorMessage,
        };
        rule.ValidationParameters["minvalueproperty"] = _minPropertyName;
        rule.ValidationParameters["maxvalueproperty"] = _maxPropertyName;
        yield return rule;
    }
}

and then decorate your view model with it:

public class RangeValidationSampleModel
{
    [DynamicRangeValidator("MinValue", "MaxValue", ErrorMessage = "Value must be between {0} and {1}")]
    public int Value { get; set; }
    public int MinValue { get; set; }
    public int MaxValue { get; set; }
}

then you could have a controller serving a view:

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View(new RangeValidationSampleModel
        {
            Value = 5,
            MinValue = 6,
            MaxValue = 8
        });
    }

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult Index(RangeValidationSampleModel model)
    {
        return View(model);
    }
}

and a view of course:

@model RangeValidationSampleModel

<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
    $.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.add('dynamicrange', ['minvalueproperty', 'maxvalueproperty'],
        function (options) {
            options.rules['dynamicrange'] = options.params;
            if (options.message != null) {
                $.validator.messages.dynamicrange = options.message;
            }
        }
    );

    $.validator.addMethod('dynamicrange', function (value, element, params) {
        var minValue = parseInt($('input[name="' + params.minvalueproperty + '"]').val(), 10);
        var maxValue = parseInt($('input[name="' + params.maxvalueproperty + '"]').val(), 10);
        var currentValue = parseInt(value, 10);
        if (isNaN(minValue) || isNaN(maxValue) || isNaN(currentValue) || minValue >= currentValue || currentValue >= maxValue) {
            var message = $(element).attr('data-val-dynamicrange');
            $.validator.messages.dynamicrange = $.validator.format(message, minValue, maxValue);
            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }, '');
</script>

@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
    <div>
        @Html.LabelFor(x => x.Value)
        @Html.EditorFor(x => x.Value)
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(x => x.Value)
    </div>
    <div>
        @Html.LabelFor(x => x.MinValue)
        @Html.EditorFor(x => x.MinValue)
    </div>
    <div>
        @Html.LabelFor(x => x.MaxValue)
        @Html.EditorFor(x => x.MaxValue)
    </div>
    <button type="submit">OK</button>
}

Obviously the custom adapter registration should be performed in an external javascript file to avoid polluting the view but for the purpose and conciseness of this post I have put it inside the view.

Answer 2

custom validation attributes are indeed a good thought. something like (digging up some snippet o'mine found who knows where a while ago):

public sealed class MustBeGreaterThan : ValidationAttribute
{
    private const string _defaultErrorMessage = "'{0}' must be greater than '{1}'";
    private string _basePropertyName;

    public MustBeGreaterThan(string basePropertyName)
        : base(_defaultErrorMessage)
    {
        _basePropertyName = basePropertyName;
    }

    //Override default FormatErrorMessage Method
    public override string FormatErrorMessage(string name)
    {
        return string.Format(_defaultErrorMessage, name, _basePropertyName);
    }

    //Override IsValid
    protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
    {
        var basePropertyInfo = validationContext.ObjectType.GetProperty(_basePropertyName);
        var lowerBound = (int)basePropertyInfo.GetValue(validationContext.ObjectInstance, null);
        var thisValue = (int)value;

        if (thisValue < lowerBound)
        {
            var message = FormatErrorMessage(validationContext.DisplayName);
            return new ValidationResult(message);
        }

        //value validated
        return null;
    }
}

public sealed class MustBeLowerThan : ValidationAttribute
{
    private const string _defaultErrorMessage = "'{0}' must be lower than '{1}'";
    private string _basePropertyName;

    public MustBeLowerThan(string basePropertyName)
        : base(_defaultErrorMessage)
    {
        _basePropertyName = basePropertyName;
    }

    //Override default FormatErrorMessage Method
    public override string FormatErrorMessage(string name)
    {
        return string.Format(_defaultErrorMessage, name, _basePropertyName);
    }

    //Override IsValid
    protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
    {
        var basePropertyInfo = validationContext.ObjectType.GetProperty(_basePropertyName);
        var upperBound = (int)basePropertyInfo.GetValue(validationContext.ObjectInstance, null);
        var thisValue = (int)value;

        if (thisValue > upperBound)
        {
            var message = FormatErrorMessage(validationContext.DisplayName);
            return new ValidationResult(message);
        }

        //value validated
        return null;
    }
}

then decorate your class

public class RangeValidationSampleModel
{
    [MustBeGreaterThan("MinValue")]
    [MustBeLowerThan("MaxValue")]
    int Value { get; set; }

    int MinValue { get; set; }

    int MaxValue { get; set; }
}

and you should be good to go

Answer 3

If you need client side validation this will have to be custom. I saw a nice post on here recently (Darin Dmitrov? Cant seem to find it) Anyways - this will allow client validation to occur: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/simonince/archive/2011/02/04/conditional-validation-in-asp-net-mvc-3.aspx

Server side can be handled via IValidateableObject or Dynamic Range Validation in ASP.NET MVC 2

etc etc on the server side but I feel you want client side here to be the key.