mvc3 validate input 'not-equal-to'

Question

My forms have inputs with default helper text that guides the user on what to enter (rather than using labels). This makes validation tricky because the input value is never

Answer 1

Here's a sample illustrating how you could proceed to implement a custom validation attribute:

public class NotEqualAttribute : ValidationAttribute, IClientValidatable
{
    public string OtherProperty { get; private set; }
    public NotEqualAttribute(string otherProperty)
    {
        OtherProperty = otherProperty;
    }

    protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
    {
        var property = validationContext.ObjectType.GetProperty(OtherProperty);
        if (property == null)
        {
            return new ValidationResult(
                string.Format(
                    CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, 
                    "{0} is unknown property", 
                    OtherProperty
                )
            );
        }
        var otherValue = property.GetValue(validationContext.ObjectInstance, null);
        if (object.Equals(value, otherValue))
        {
            return new ValidationResult(FormatErrorMessage(validationContext.DisplayName));
        }
        return null;
    }

    public IEnumerable GetClientValidationRules(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context)
    {
        var rule = new ModelClientValidationRule
        {
            ErrorMessage = ErrorMessage,
            ValidationType = "notequalto",
        };
        rule.ValidationParameters["other"] = OtherProperty;
        yield return rule;
    }
}

and then on the model:

public class MyViewModel
{
    public string Prop1 { get; set; }

    [NotEqual("Prop1", ErrorMessage = "should be different than Prop1")]
    public string Prop2 { get; set; }
}

controller:

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View(new MyViewModel
        {
            Prop1 = "foo",
            Prop2 = "foo"
        });
    }

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

and view:

@model MyViewModel





@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
    

        @Html.LabelFor(x => x.Prop1)
        @Html.EditorFor(x => x.Prop1)
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(x => x.Prop1)
    
    

        @Html.LabelFor(x => x.Prop2)
        @Html.EditorFor(x => x.Prop2)
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(x => x.Prop2)
    
    
}