Writing a CompareTo DataAnnotation Attribute

Question

I have a situation where I want to compare to fields (example, ensuring the start time is before the end time). I'm using the System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations attributes for my validation.

My first thought was something like this:

public enum CompareToOperation
{
    EqualTo,
    LessThan,
    GreaterThan
}

public class CompareToAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
    CompareToOperation _Operation;
    IComparable _Comparision;

    public CompareToAttribute(CompareToOperation operation, Func<IComparable> comparison)
    {
       _Operation = operation;
       _Comparision = comparison();
    }

    public override bool IsValid(object value)
    {
    if (!(value is IComparable))
        return false;

    switch (_Operation)
    {
        case CompareToOperation.EqualTo: return _Comparision.Equals(value);
        case CompareToOperation.GreaterThan: return _Comparision.CompareTo(value) == 1;
        case CompareToOperation.LessThan: return _Comparision.CompareTo(value) == -1;
    }

    return false;
    }
}

public class SimpleClass
{
   public DateTime Start {get;set;}
   [CompareTo(CompareToOperation.GreaterThan, () => this.Start)] // error here
   public DateTime End {get;set;}
}

This doesn't work however, there's a compiler error where the attribute is marked:

Expression cannot contain anonymous methods or lambda expressions

Does anyone have a solution for this? Or a different approach for validating one field compared to the value of another?

Answer 1

From the look of it, this cannot be done.

ValidationAttribute is applied on a property and as such is restricted to that property only.

I assume the question is not an abstract one and you do have a real issue that requires the presence of such a validator. Probably it's the repeat password textbox? :-)

In any case, to work around the problem you have you need to rely on the context you work in. ASP.NET Web Forms did it with the ControlToCompare and since everything is a control and we have naming containers in place it's fairly easy to figure things out based on a simple string.

In ASP.NET MVC you can in theory do the same thing, BUT! Client side will be fairly easy and natural - just use the #PropertyName and do your stuff in javascript. Serverside though you would need to access something external to your attribute class - the Request object - and that is a no no as far as I'm concerned.

All in all, there IS always a reason for things (not)happening and, in my opinion, a reason why Microsoft did not implement this kind of validator in a first place is - it is not possible without things described above.

BUT! I really hope I'm wrong. I DO need the compare validation to be easy to use...

Answer 2

I think you need something like this:

public class EqualsAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
 private readonly String _To;

 public EqualsAttribute(String to)
 {
  if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(to))
  {
   throw new ArgumentNullException("to");
  }
  if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(key))
  {
   throw new ArgumentNullException("key");
  }
  _To = to;
 }


 protected override Boolean IsValid(Object value, ValidationContext validationContext, out ValidationResult validationResult)
 {
  validationResult = null;
  var isValid = IsValid(value, validationContext);
  if (!isValid)
  {
   validationResult = new ValidationResult(
    FormatErrorMessage(validationContext.DisplayName),
    new [] { validationContext.MemberName });
  }
  return isValid;
 }

 private Boolean IsValid(Object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
 {
  var propertyInfo = validationContext.ObjectType.GetProperty(_To);
  if (propertyInfo == null)
  {
   return false;
  }
  var propertyValue = propertyInfo.GetValue(validationContext.ObjectInstance, null);
  return Equals(value, propertyValue);
 }

 public override Boolean IsValid(Object value)
 {
  throw new NotSupportedException();
 }
}

Answer 3

A very ugly way that's not nearly as flexible is to put it on the class and use reflection. I haven't tested this, so I'm not actually sure it works, but it does compile :)

public enum CompareToOperation
{
    EqualTo,
    LessThan,
    GreaterThan
}

public class CompareToAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
    CompareToOperation _Operation;
    string _ComparisionPropertyName1;
    string _ComparisionPropertyName2;

    public CompareToAttribute(CompareToOperation operation, string comparisonPropertyName1, string comparisonPropertyName2)
    {
        _Operation = operation;
        _ComparisionPropertyName1 = comparisonPropertyName1;
        _ComparisionPropertyName2 = comparisonPropertyName2;
    }

    private static IComparable GetComparablePropertyValue(object obj, string propertyName)
    {
        if (obj == null) return null;
        var type = obj.GetType();
        var propertyInfo = type.GetProperty(propertyName);
        if (propertyInfo == null) return null;
        return propertyInfo.GetValue(obj, null) as IComparable;
    }

    public override bool IsValid(object value)
    {
        var comp1 = GetComparablePropertyValue(value, _ComparisionPropertyName1);
        var comp2 = GetComparablePropertyValue(value, _ComparisionPropertyName2);

        if (comp1 == null && comp2 == null)
            return true;

        if (comp1 == null || comp2 == null)
            return false;

        var result = comp1.CompareTo(comp2);

        switch (_Operation)
        {
            case CompareToOperation.LessThan: return result == -1;
            case CompareToOperation.EqualTo: return result == 0;
            case CompareToOperation.GreaterThan: return result == 1;
            default: return false;
        }
    }
}

[CompareTo(CompareToOperation.LessThan, "Start", "End")]
public class SimpleClass
{
    public DateTime Start { get; set; }
    public DateTime End { get; set; }
}

Answer 4

nice article: http://byatool.com/mvc/custom-data-annotations-with-mvc-how-to-check-multiple-properties-at-one-time/

Answer 5

Check The AccountMOdel in the default project of MVC2, There is an attribute PropertiesMustMatchAttribute applied to the ChangePasswordModel to validate that the NewPassword and ConfirmPassword Match

   [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class, AllowMultiple = true, Inherited = true)]
public sealed class PropertiesMustMatchAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
    private const string _defaultErrorMessage = "'{0}' and '{1}' do not match.";

    private readonly object _typeId = new object();

    public PropertiesMustMatchAttribute(string originalProperty, string confirmProperty)
        : base(_defaultErrorMessage)
    {
        OriginalProperty = originalProperty;
        ConfirmProperty = confirmProperty;
    }

    public string ConfirmProperty
    {
        get;
        private set;
    }

    public string OriginalProperty
    {
        get;
        private set;
    }

    public override object TypeId
    {
        get
        {
            return _typeId;
        }
    }

    public override string FormatErrorMessage(string name)
    {
        return String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture, ErrorMessageString,
            OriginalProperty, ConfirmProperty);
    }

    public override bool IsValid(object value)
    {
        PropertyDescriptorCollection properties = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(value);
        object originalValue = properties.Find(OriginalProperty, true /* ignoreCase */).GetValue(value);
        object confirmValue = properties.Find(ConfirmProperty, true /* ignoreCase */).GetValue(value);
        return Object.Equals(originalValue, confirmValue);
    }
}