Asp.net-mvc – Disable client-side validation in MVC 3 “cancel” submit button

asp.net-mvcasp.net-mvc-3client-sidevalidation

OK, been trying things for hours and could use some help. I'm trying to implement a page in MVC 3 that has "back" and "next" buttons. When the back button is clicked I want to disable client-side MVC validation from running so that my action method will run and send the user to the previous logical web page. I've tried this:

<script type="text/javascript">
  document.getElementById("backButton").disableValidation = true;
</script>

and this:

<input type="submit" name="backButton" value="← Back" 
 title="Go back to step 1." disableValidation="true" />

But no matter what, the cilent-side validation JavaScript kicks in and won't let the button do its post-back. I'm thinking that disableValidation only works in MVC 2 perhaps, and I'm supposed to be doing something else in MVC 3, but cannot seem to find any examples.

Best Answer

What is this mystical force that causes the answer to reveal itself as soon as you post a question somewhere?

It looks like in MVC 3 you disable client-side validation on a button by adding the class "cancel" to it. So in my example:

<input type="submit" name="backButton" value="← Back"
 title="Go back to step 1." class="cancel" />

works great. And no ID attribute is needed either. If you have an actual style class on the button, just do this:

<input type="submit" name="backButton" value="← Back"
 title="Go back to step 1." class="style-name cancel" />

Related Solutions

C# – How to handle multiple submit buttons in ASP.NET MVC Framework

Here is a mostly clean attribute-based solution to the multiple submit button issue based heavily on the post and comments from Maarten Balliauw.

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple = false, Inherited = true)]
public class MultipleButtonAttribute : ActionNameSelectorAttribute
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Argument { get; set; }

    public override bool IsValidName(ControllerContext controllerContext, string actionName, MethodInfo methodInfo)
    {
        var isValidName = false;
        var keyValue = string.Format("{0}:{1}", Name, Argument);
        var value = controllerContext.Controller.ValueProvider.GetValue(keyValue);

        if (value != null)
        {
            controllerContext.Controller.ControllerContext.RouteData.Values[Name] = Argument;
            isValidName = true;
        }

        return isValidName;
    }
}

razor:

<form action="" method="post">
 <input type="submit" value="Save" name="action:Save" />
 <input type="submit" value="Cancel" name="action:Cancel" />
</form>

and controller:

[HttpPost]
[MultipleButton(Name = "action", Argument = "Save")]
public ActionResult Save(MessageModel mm) { ... }

[HttpPost]
[MultipleButton(Name = "action", Argument = "Cancel")]
public ActionResult Cancel(MessageModel mm) { ... }

Update: Razor pages looks to provide the same functionality out of the box. For new development, it may be preferable.

Asp.net-mvc – ASP.NET MVC 3 client-side validation with parameters

You could use the ValidationParameters property to add custom parameters to the rule:

public IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context)
{
    var rule = new ModelClientValidationRule
    {
        ErrorMessage = this.ErrorMessage,
        ValidationType = "futuredate",
    };
    rule.ValidationParameters.Add("param1", "value1");
    rule.ValidationParameters.Add("param2", "value2");
    yield return rule;
}

which could be used in the adapter:

jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.add(
    'futuredate', 
    [ 'param1', 'param2' ],
    function (options) {
        var param1 = options.params.param1; // shall equal 'value1'
        var param2 = options.params.param2; // shall equal 'value2'
        // TODO: use those custom parameters to define the client rules
    }
);

UPDATE:

As requested in the comments section here's how you could pass those parameters to the custom validator rule function:

jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.add(
    'futuredate', 
    [ 'param1', 'param2' ],
    function (options) {
        // simply pass the options.params here
        options.rules['greaterThan'] = options.params;
        options.messages['greaterThan'] = options.message;
    }
);

jQuery.validator.addMethod('greaterThan', function (value, element, params) {
    // params here will equal { param1: 'value1', param2: 'value2' }
    return ...
}, '');

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C# – How to handle multiple submit buttons in ASP.NET MVC Framework

Asp.net-mvc – ASP.NET MVC 3 client-side validation with parameters

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