Handling server-side validation with Ajax forms and ASP.Net MVC

Question

Hi,

Before down-voting or closing for duplicate questions, I want to make clear that I have read old posts on this site and others. The problem is that they are old (some at least) and are not giving really good examples.

I currently use ASP.Net MVC 2.0 with Ajax.BeginForm and jQuery Validation client-side validation which both works perfectly fine. But I would like server-side validation errors to be displayed like client-side errors (not necessarily remote). The server-side errors are currently applied with ModelState.AddModelError.

I use code which extends something like this:

<% Html.EnableClientValidation(); %>

using (Ajax.BeginForm("Bar", new AjaxOptions { InsertionMode = InsertionMode.Replace, UpdateTargetId = "result"})) { %>
<fieldset>
    <p>
        <%: Html.TextAreaFor(model => model.Foo) %>
        <%: Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Foo) %>
    </p>
    <p>
        <input type="submit"/>
    </p>
</fieldset>

And, as I mentioned, I set the errors with ModelState.AddModelError. Currently, I return a validation-summary on error (which does not bind to the elements which causes them) and otherwise return my result.

Until now, I have encountered multiple solutions to this problem:

• xVal (supports remote server-validation)
• Set the entire form in a RenderPartial and id='result'.
• Return some JSON with result and error-messages

But is there really not a better solution (maybe in ASP.Net MVC 3.0)? Is xVal still a good solution (not a lot of development is going on)?

If I go with a JSON solution, is there a jQuery-way to assign errors to specific elements which mimics 100% the client-side validation?

If there is any better solution, I'm prepared to switch the technologies I use.

Thanks, Lasse Espeholt

Answer 1

xVal is good! I'm using it with 2 asp.net mvc 2 projects and it works wonderfully.