Advanced - Model validation

Model state

public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostAsync()
{
    if (!ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        return Page();
    }

    _context.Movies.Add(Movie);
    await _context.SaveChangesAsync();

    return RedirectToPage("./Index");
}

public async Task<IActionResult> Create(Movie movie)
{
    if (!ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        return View(movie);
    }

    _context.Movies.Add(movie);
    await _context.SaveChangesAsync();

    return RedirectToAction(nameof(Index));
}

Rerun validation

public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostTryValidateAsync()
{
    var modifiedReleaseDate = DateTime.Now.Date;
    Movie.ReleaseDate = modifiedReleaseDate;

    ModelState.ClearValidationState(nameof(Movie));
    if (!TryValidateModel(Movie, nameof(Movie)))
    {
        return Page();
    }

    _context.Movies.Add(Movie);
    await _context.SaveChangesAsync();

    return RedirectToPage("./Index");
}

Validation attributes

public class Movie
{
    public int Id { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [StringLength(100)]
    public string Title { get; set; } = null!;

    [ClassicMovie(1960)]
    [DataType(DataType.Date)]
    [Display(Name = "Release Date")]
    public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [StringLength(1000)]
    public string Description { get; set; } = null!;

    [Range(0, 999.99)]
    public decimal Price { get; set; }

    public Genre Genre { get; set; }

    public bool Preorder { get; set; }
}

Built-in attributes

[ValidateNever]: Indicates that a property or parameter should be excluded from validation.
[CreditCard]: Validates that the property has a credit card format. Requires jQuery Validation Additional Methods.
[Compare]: Validates that two properties in a model match.
[EmailAddress]: Validates that the property has an email format.
[Phone]: Validates that the property has a telephone number format.
[Range]: Validates that the property value falls within a specified range.
[RegularExpression]: Validates that the property value matches a specified regular expression.
[Required]: Validates that the field isn't null. See [Required] attribute for details about this attribute's behavior.
[StringLength]: Validates that a string property value doesn't exceed a specified length limit.
[Url]: Validates that the property has a URL format.
[Remote]: Validates input on the client by calling an action method on the server. See [Remote] attribute for details about this attribute's behavior.

Error messages

[StringLength(8, ErrorMessage = "Name length can't be more than 8.")]

[StringLength(8, ErrorMessage = "{0} length must be between {2} and {1}.", MinimumLength = 6)]

Use JSON property names in validation errors

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ModelBinding.Metadata;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddControllers(options =>
{
    options.ModelMetadataDetailsProviders.Add(new SystemTextJsonValidationMetadataProvider());
});

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseHttpsRedirection();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapControllers();

app.Run();

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.NewtonsoftJson;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddControllers(options =>
{
    options.ModelMetadataDetailsProviders.Add(new NewtonsoftJsonValidationMetadataProvider());
}).AddNewtonsoftJson();

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseHttpsRedirection();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapControllers();

app.Run();

Non-nullable reference types and [Required] attribute

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

public class Person
{
    public string? Name { get; set; }
}

builder.Services.AddControllers(
    options => options.SuppressImplicitRequiredAttributeForNonNullableReferenceTypes = true);

[Required] validation on the server

Make the field nullable (for example, decimal? instead of decimal). Nullable<T> value types are treated like standard nullable types.
Specify the default error message to be used by model binding, as shown in the following example:

builder.Services.AddRazorPages()
    .AddMvcOptions(options =>
    {
        options.MaxModelValidationErrors = 50;
        options.ModelBindingMessageProvider.SetValueMustNotBeNullAccessor(
            _ => "The field is required.");
    });

builder.Services.AddSingleton
    <IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider, CustomValidationAttributeAdapterProvider>();

For more information about model binding errors that you can set default messages for, see DefaultModelBindingMessageProvider.

[Required] validation on the client

A value is considered present only if input is entered for it. Therefore, client-side validation handles non-nullable types the same as nullable types.
Whitespace in a string field is considered valid input by the jQuery Validation required method. Server-side validation considers a required string field invalid if only whitespace is entered.

[Remote] attribute

Create an action method for JavaScript to call. The jQuery Validation remote method expects a JSON response:

Here's an example of an action method that returns a custom error message:

[AcceptVerbs("GET", "POST")]
public IActionResult VerifyEmail(string email)
{
    if (!_userService.VerifyEmail(email))
    {
        return Json($"Email {email} is already in use.");
    }

    return Json(true);
}

true means the input data is valid.
false, undefined, or null means the input is invalid. Display the default error message.
Any other string means the input is invalid. Display the string as a custom error message.
In the model class, annotate the property with a [Remote] attribute that points to the validation action method, as shown in the following example:

[Remote(action: "VerifyEmail", controller: "Users")]
public string Email { get; set; } = null!;

Additional fields

[Remote(action: "VerifyName", controller: "Users", AdditionalFields = nameof(LastName))]
[Display(Name = "First Name")]
public string FirstName { get; set; } = null!;

[Remote(action: "VerifyName", controller: "Users", AdditionalFields = nameof(FirstName))]
[Display(Name = "Last Name")]
public string LastName { get; set; } = null!;

[AcceptVerbs("GET", "POST")]
public IActionResult VerifyName(string firstName, string lastName)
{
    if (!_userService.VerifyName(firstName, lastName))
    {
        return Json($"A user named {firstName} {lastName} already exists.");
    }

    return Json(true);
}

[Remote(action: "VerifyName", controller: "Users",
    AdditionalFields = nameof(FirstName) + "," + nameof(LastName))]
public string MiddleName { get; set; }

Alternatives to built-in attributes

Create custom attributes.
Implement IValidatableObject.

Custom attributes

Is only run on the server.
For Classic movies, validates the release date:

public class ClassicMovieAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
    public ClassicMovieAttribute(int year)
        => Year = year;

    public int Year { get; }

    public string GetErrorMessage() =>
        $"Classic movies must have a release year no later than {Year}.";

    protected override ValidationResult? IsValid(
        object? value, ValidationContext validationContext)
    {
        var movie = (Movie)validationContext.ObjectInstance;
        var releaseYear = ((DateTime)value!).Year;

        if (movie.Genre == Genre.Classic && releaseYear > Year)
        {
            return new ValidationResult(GetErrorMessage());
        }

        return ValidationResult.Success;
    }
}

IValidatableObject

public class ValidatableMovie : IValidatableObject
{
    private const int _classicYear = 1960;

    public int Id { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [StringLength(100)]
    public string Title { get; set; } = null!;

    [DataType(DataType.Date)]
    [Display(Name = "Release Date")]
    public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [StringLength(1000)]
    public string Description { get; set; } = null!;

    [Range(0, 999.99)]
    public decimal Price { get; set; }

    public Genre Genre { get; set; }

    public bool Preorder { get; set; }

    public IEnumerable<ValidationResult> Validate(ValidationContext validationContext)
    {
        if (Genre == Genre.Classic && ReleaseDate.Year > _classicYear)
        {
            yield return new ValidationResult(
                $"Classic movies must have a release year no later than {_classicYear}.",
                new[] { nameof(ReleaseDate) });
        }
    }
}

Custom validation

if (Contact.Name == Contact.ShortName)
{
    ModelState.AddModelError("Contact.ShortName", 
                             "Short name can't be the same as Name.");
}

if (contact.Name == contact.ShortName)
{
    ModelState.AddModelError(nameof(contact.ShortName),
                             "Short name can't be the same as Name.");
}

public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostAsync()
{
    // Attach Validation Error Message to the Model on validation failure.          

    if (Contact.Name == Contact.ShortName)
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError("Contact.ShortName", 
                                 "Short name can't be the same as Name.");
    }

    if (_context.Contact.Any(i => i.PhoneNumber == Contact.PhoneNumber))
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError("Contact.PhoneNumber",
                                  "The Phone number is already in use.");
    }
    if (_context.Contact.Any(i => i.Email == Contact.Email))
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError("Contact.Email", "The Email is already in use.");
    }

    if (!ModelState.IsValid || _context.Contact == null || Contact == null)
    {
        // if model is invalid, return the page with the model state errors.
        return Page();
    }
    _context.Contact.Add(Contact);
    await _context.SaveChangesAsync();

    return RedirectToPage("./Index");
}

[HttpPost]
[ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
public async Task<IActionResult> Create([Bind("Id,Name,ShortName,Email,PhoneNumber")] Contact contact)
{
    // Attach Validation Error Message to the Model on validation failure.
    if (contact.Name == contact.ShortName)
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError(nameof(contact.ShortName),
                                 "Short name can't be the same as Name.");
    }

    if (_context.Contact.Any(i => i.PhoneNumber == contact.PhoneNumber))
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError(nameof(contact.PhoneNumber),
                                  "The Phone number is already in use.");
    }
    if (_context.Contact.Any(i => i.Email == contact.Email))
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError(nameof(contact.Email), "The Email is already in use.");
    }

    if (ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        _context.Add(contact);
        await _context.SaveChangesAsync();
        return RedirectToAction(nameof(Index));
    }
    return View(contact);
}

ValidationResult

public class ValidateNameAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
    public ValidateNameAttribute()
    {
        const string defaultErrorMessage = "Error with Name";
        ErrorMessage ??= defaultErrorMessage;
    }

    protected override ValidationResult? IsValid(object? value,
                                         ValidationContext validationContext)
    {
        if (value == null || string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value.ToString()))
        {
            return new ValidationResult("Name is required.");
        }

        if (value.ToString()!.ToLower().Contains("zz"))
        {

            return new ValidationResult(
                        FormatErrorMessage(validationContext.DisplayName));
        }

        return ValidationResult.Success;
    }
}

public class Contact
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }

    [ValidateName(ErrorMessage = "Name must not contain `zz`")] 
    public string? Name { get; set; }
    public string? Email { get; set; }
    public string? PhoneNumber { get; set; }
}

Top-level node validation

Action parameters
Controller properties
Page handler parameters
Page model properties

[AcceptVerbs("GET", "POST")]
public IActionResult VerifyPhone(
    [RegularExpression(@"^\d{3}-\d{3}-\d{4}$")] string phone)
{
    if (!ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        return Json($"Phone {phone} has an invalid format. Format: ###-###-####");
    }

    return Json(true);
}

[HttpPost]
public IActionResult CheckAge([BindRequired, FromQuery] int age)
{

Maximum errors

builder.Services.AddRazorPages()
    .AddMvcOptions(options =>
    {
        options.MaxModelValidationErrors = 50;
        options.ModelBindingMessageProvider.SetValueMustNotBeNullAccessor(
            _ => "The field is required.");
    });

builder.Services.AddSingleton
    <IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider, CustomValidationAttributeAdapterProvider>();

Maximum recursion

Automatic short-circuit

Client-side validation

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.6.0/jquery.js"></script>

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-validate/1.19.3/jquery.validate.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-validation-unobtrusive/3.2.12/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.js"></script>

<div class="form-group">
    <label asp-for="Movie.ReleaseDate" class="control-label"></label>
    <input asp-for="Movie.ReleaseDate" class="form-control" />
    <span asp-validation-for="Movie.ReleaseDate" class="text-danger"></span>
</div>

<div class="form-group">
    <label class="control-label" for="Movie_ReleaseDate">Release Date</label>
    <input class="form-control" type="date" data-val="true"
        data-val-required="The Release Date field is required."
        id="Movie_ReleaseDate" name="Movie.ReleaseDate" value="">
    <span class="text-danger field-validation-valid"
        data-valmsg-for="Movie.ReleaseDate" data-valmsg-replace="true"></span>
</div>

Unobtrusive validation

Add Validation to Dynamic Forms

$.get({
    url: "https://url/that/returns/a/form",
    dataType: "html",
    error: function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
        alert(textStatus + ": Couldn't add form. " + errorThrown);
    },
    success: function(newFormHTML) {
        var container = document.getElementById("form-container");
        container.insertAdjacentHTML("beforeend", newFormHTML);
        var forms = container.getElementsByTagName("form");
        var newForm = forms[forms.length - 1];
        $.validator.unobtrusive.parse(newForm);
    }
})

Add Validation to Dynamic Controls

$.get({
    url: "https://url/that/returns/a/control",
    dataType: "html",
    error: function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
        alert(textStatus + ": Couldn't add control. " + errorThrown);
    },
    success: function(newInputHTML) {
        var form = document.getElementById("my-form");
        form.insertAdjacentHTML("beforeend", newInputHTML);
        $(form).removeData("validator")    // Added by jQuery Validation
               .removeData("unobtrusiveValidation");   // Added by jQuery Unobtrusive Validation
        $.validator.unobtrusive.parse(form);
    }
})

Custom client-side validation

$.validator.addMethod('classicmovie', function (value, element, params) {
    var genre = $(params[0]).val(), year = params[1], date = new Date(value);

    // The Classic genre has a value of '0'.
    if (genre && genre.length > 0 && genre[0] === '0') {
        // The release date for a Classic is valid if it's no greater than the given year.
        return date.getUTCFullYear() <= year;
    }

    return true;
});

$.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.add('classicmovie', ['year'], function (options) {
    var element = $(options.form).find('select#Movie_Genre')[0];

    options.rules['classicmovie'] = [element, parseInt(options.params['year'])];
    options.messages['classicmovie'] = options.message;
});

Flag the field as being subject to validation (data-val="true").
Identify a validation rule name and error message text (for example, data-val-rulename="Error message.").
Provide any additional parameters the validator needs (for example, data-val-rulename-param1="value").

<input class="form-control" type="date"
    data-val="true"
    data-val-classicmovie="Classic movies must have a release year no later than 1960."
    data-val-classicmovie-year="1960"
    data-val-required="The Release Date field is required."
    id="Movie_ReleaseDate" name="Movie.ReleaseDate" value="">

Create a class that derives from AttributeAdapterBase and a class that implements IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider, and register your attribute and its adapter in DI. This method follows the single responsibility principle in that server-related and client-related validation code is in separate classes. The adapter also has the advantage that since it's registered in DI, other services in DI are available to it if needed.
Implement IClientModelValidator in your ValidationAttribute class. This method might be appropriate if the attribute doesn't do any server-side validation and doesn't need any services from DI.

AttributeAdapter for client-side validation

Create an attribute adapter class for the custom validation attribute. Derive the class from AttributeAdapterBase. Create an AddValidation method that adds data- attributes to the rendered output, as shown in this example:

public class ClassicMovieAttributeAdapter : AttributeAdapterBase<ClassicMovieAttribute>
{
    public ClassicMovieAttributeAdapter(
        ClassicMovieAttribute attribute, IStringLocalizer? stringLocalizer)
        : base(attribute, stringLocalizer)
    {

    }

    public override void AddValidation(ClientModelValidationContext context)
    {
        MergeAttribute(context.Attributes, "data-val", "true");
        MergeAttribute(context.Attributes, "data-val-classicmovie", GetErrorMessage(context));

        var year = Attribute.Year.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
        MergeAttribute(context.Attributes, "data-val-classicmovie-year", year);
    }

    public override string GetErrorMessage(ModelValidationContextBase validationContext)
        => Attribute.GetErrorMessage();
}

Create an adapter provider class that implements IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider. In the GetAttributeAdapter method pass in the custom attribute to the adapter's constructor, as shown in this example:

public class CustomValidationAttributeAdapterProvider : IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider
{
    private readonly IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider baseProvider =
        new ValidationAttributeAdapterProvider();

    public IAttributeAdapter? GetAttributeAdapter(
        ValidationAttribute attribute, IStringLocalizer? stringLocalizer)
    {
        if (attribute is ClassicMovieAttribute classicMovieAttribute)
        {
            return new ClassicMovieAttributeAdapter(classicMovieAttribute, stringLocalizer);
        }

        return baseProvider.GetAttributeAdapter(attribute, stringLocalizer);
    }
}

builder.Services.AddRazorPages()
    .AddMvcOptions(options =>
    {
        options.MaxModelValidationErrors = 50;
        options.ModelBindingMessageProvider.SetValueMustNotBeNullAccessor(
            _ => "The field is required.");
    });

builder.Services.AddSingleton
    <IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider, CustomValidationAttributeAdapterProvider>();

IClientModelValidator for client-side validation

In the custom validation attribute, implement the IClientModelValidator interface and create an AddValidation method. In the AddValidation method, add data- attributes for validation, as shown in the following example:

public class ClassicMovieWithClientValidatorAttribute :
    ValidationAttribute, IClientModelValidator
{
    public ClassicMovieWithClientValidatorAttribute(int year)
        => Year = year;

    public int Year { get; }

    public void AddValidation(ClientModelValidationContext context)
    {
        MergeAttribute(context.Attributes, "data-val", "true");
        MergeAttribute(context.Attributes, "data-val-classicmovie", GetErrorMessage());

        var year = Year.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
        MergeAttribute(context.Attributes, "data-val-classicmovie-year", year);
    }

    public string GetErrorMessage() =>
        $"Classic movies must have a release year no later than {Year}.";

    protected override ValidationResult? IsValid(
        object? value, ValidationContext validationContext)
    {
        var movie = (Movie)validationContext.ObjectInstance;
        var releaseYear = ((DateTime)value!).Year;

        if (movie.Genre == Genre.Classic && releaseYear > Year)
        {
            return new ValidationResult(GetErrorMessage());
        }

        return ValidationResult.Success;
    }

    private static bool MergeAttribute(IDictionary<string, string> attributes, string key, string value)
    {
        if (attributes.ContainsKey(key))
        {
            return false;
        }

        attributes.Add(key, value);
        return true;
    }
}

Disable client-side validation

builder.Services.AddRazorPages()
    .AddViewOptions(options =>
    {
        options.HtmlHelperOptions.ClientValidationEnabled = false;
    });

Comment out the reference to _ValidationScriptsPartial in all the .cshtml files.
Remove the contents of the Pages\Shared_ValidationScriptsPartial.cshtml file.

Problem details

ExceptionHandlerMiddleware: Generates a problem details response when a custom handler is not defined.
StatusCodePagesMiddleware: Generates a problem details response by default.
DeveloperExceptionPageMiddleware: Generates a problem details response in development when the Accept request HTTP header doesn't include text/html.

Additional resources

System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations
Model Binding

Ref: Model validation in ASP.NET Core MVC and Razor Pages

Tags: Summary AspNetCore