Validation Attributes

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Validation attributes are used to enforce various validation rules in a declarative fashion on classes or class members. All validation attributes derive from the ValidationAttribute base class.

Example: RequiredAttribute

When validated through the ValidationAttribute.Validate method, this attribute will return an error if the Name property is null or contains only whitespace.

public class ContactModel
{
    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please provide a name.")]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Example: StringLengthAttribute

The StringLengthAttribute validates if a string is less than the maximum length of a string. It can optionally specify a minimum length. Both values are inclusive.

public class ContactModel
{
    [StringLength(20, MinimumLength = 5, ErrorMessage = "A name must be between five and twenty characters.")]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Example: RangeAttribute

The RangeAttribute gives the maximum and minimum value for a numeric field.

public class Model
{
    [Range(0.01, 100.00,ErrorMessage = "Price must be between 0.01 and 100.00")]
    public decimal Price { get; set; }
}

Example: CustomValidationAttribute

The CustomValidationAttribute class allows a custom static method to be invoked for validation. The custom method must be static ValidationResult [MethodName] (object input).

public class Model
{
    [CustomValidation(typeof(MyCustomValidation), "IsNotAnApple")]
    public string FavoriteFruit { get; set; }
}

Method declaration:

public static class MyCustomValidation
{
    public static ValidationResult IsNotAnApple(object input)
    {
        var result = ValidationResult.Success;

        if (input?.ToString()?.ToUpperInvariant() == "APPLE")
        {
            result = new ValidationResult("Apples are not allowed.");
        }

        return result;
    }
}

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