Remove required validation using asp.net core

Question

I have a client that requires two buttons on the form. One that saves the progress of an uncompleted form. So this form will still need to validate the fields but will just ignore the required validation. The other button will need to run the complete validation included required fields.

I am using the stock standard asp.net core project which I believe uses jquery-validation-unobtrusive and is based on the model for the view.

What I am trying to do is when the "Save Progress" button is clicked to remove all the required validation and submit the form. However none of the code that I have found on stack overflow or the internet works for my scenario.

I have tried:

<div class="form-group">
            <input id="Progress" type="submit" value="Save Progress" onclick="foo()" class="btn btn-default" />
        </div>

 function foo() {

        $('#FamilyName').rules("remove", "required");


        return true
    }

and

     function foo() {
        var settings = $('#Registration').validate().settings;
        for (var i in settings.rules) {
            delete settings.rules[i].required;
        }
 }

both of the above two attempts successfully find and remove rules but when the form is submitted validation still fails for the field in question.

I am stumped and not sure how to proceed.

Answer 1

Changing the required rule(s) on the client does not affect server side validation. Your [Required] attribute validation is still executed during the model binding process, therefore ModelState will be invalid, and you would manually need to check each property to determine if its invalid because of a [Required] attribute, or because of one of your other validation attributes.

In addition, you will need to add all the rules back again (or re-parse the $.validator) to get the client side validation for your normal submit.

Instead, include a bool property in your view model, so that you can use a conditional [RequiredIf] attribute (you could use a foolproof attribute, or the one in this project).

Your model would then include

public bool IsDraft { get; set; }
[RequiredIf("IsDraft", false, ErrorMessage = "...")]
public string FamilyName { get; set; }

and in the view

@Html.HiddenFor(m => m.IsDraft)

@Html.LabelFor(m => m.FamilyName)
@Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.FamilyName)
@Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.FamilyName)


<input id="Progress" type="button" value="Save Progress" class="btn btn-default" />
<input id="Final" type="button" value="Save Final" class="btn btn-default" />

and the associated scripts

$('#Progress').click(function() {
    $('#IsDraft').val('True');
    $(yourForm).submit();
});
$('#Final').click(function() {
    $('#IsDraft').val('False');
    $(yourForm).submit();
});

Answer 2

With your code you dispabled the client side validation. In order to make it work, you have two options. The first option is to remove the required from your model. The second is to remove the server side validation and write your own code in order to check the submited values.

// Remove this.
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
    return View(model);
}

You can make custom validation like this.

if (boolean expression)
{
    ModelState.AddModelError("Property", "Error message.");
    return View(model);
}

Replace the boolean expression with a check that you want to make, the Property with the property name which failed the validation and the Error message with the message that you want to display.

Answer 3

If you are using ASP, why not use an ASP Button?

<asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Button" OnClientClick="return ValidationCheck();" />

Then the script is:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">  
      function ValidationCheck() 
{
    var value = $("#TextBox1").val(); 

    if ((value === null) || (value == "")) 
        { 
          alert("Enter text!"); return false; 
        } 
    return true; } 
</script>

This way you can control the validation better.

An even better way would be to do validations on the server side with modal pop-ups etc.