ASP .NET MVC 3 Data Annotations GreaterThan LowerThan for DateTime and int

Question

I would like to know what is the easiest way to have a \"Greater Than\" & \"Lower Than\" validation on a ASP.NET MVC 3 form?

I use unobtrusive JavaScript for client

Answer 1

You can simply do this with custom validation.

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property, AllowMultiple=true)]
    public class DateGreaterThanAttribute : ValidationAttribute
    {
        string otherPropertyName;

        public DateGreaterThanAttribute(string otherPropertyName, string errorMessage)
            : base(errorMessage)
        {
            this.otherPropertyName = otherPropertyName;
        }

        protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
        {
            ValidationResult validationResult = ValidationResult.Success;
            try
            {
                // Using reflection we can get a reference to the other date property, in this example the project start date
                var otherPropertyInfo = validationContext.ObjectType.GetProperty(this.otherPropertyName);
                // Let's check that otherProperty is of type DateTime as we expect it to be
                if (otherPropertyInfo.PropertyType.Equals(new DateTime().GetType()))
                {
                    DateTime toValidate = (DateTime)value;
                    DateTime referenceProperty = (DateTime)otherPropertyInfo.GetValue(validationContext.ObjectInstance, null);
                    // if the end date is lower than the start date, than the validationResult will be set to false and return
                    // a properly formatted error message
                    if (toValidate.CompareTo(referenceProperty) < 1)
                    {
                        validationResult = new ValidationResult(ErrorMessageString);
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    validationResult = new ValidationResult("An error occurred while validating the property. OtherProperty is not of type DateTime");
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                // Do stuff, i.e. log the exception
                // Let it go through the upper levels, something bad happened
                throw ex;
            }

            return validationResult;
        }
}

and use it in model like

 [DisplayName("Start date")]
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]        
    public DateTime StartDate { get; set; }

    [DisplayName("Estimated end date")]
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
    [DateGreaterThan("StartDate", "End Date end date must not exceed start date")]
    public DateTime EndDate { get; set; }

This works well with server side validation.For client side validaion you can write the method like GetClientValidationRules like

public IEnumerable GetClientValidationRules(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context)
        {
            //string errorMessage = this.FormatErrorMessage(metadata.DisplayName);
            string errorMessage = ErrorMessageString;

            // The value we set here are needed by the jQuery adapter
            ModelClientValidationRule dateGreaterThanRule = new ModelClientValidationRule();
            dateGreaterThanRule.ErrorMessage = errorMessage;
            dateGreaterThanRule.ValidationType = "dategreaterthan"; // This is the name the jQuery adapter will use
            //"otherpropertyname" is the name of the jQuery parameter for the adapter, must be LOWERCASE!
            dateGreaterThanRule.ValidationParameters.Add("otherpropertyname", otherPropertyName);

            yield return dateGreaterThanRule;
        }

Now simply in view

$.validator.addMethod("dategreaterthan", function (value, element, params) {

    return Date.parse(value) > Date.parse($(params).val());
});
$.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.add("dategreaterthan", ["otherpropertyname"], function (options) {
    options.rules["dategreaterthan"] = "#" + options.params.otherpropertyname;
    options.messages["dategreaterthan"] = options.message;
});

You can find more details in this link