Display a message if client validation fails?

Question

I'm working on an application form for a website which implements ASP.NET validation (including client side).

I have a requirement to display a message at the bottom of the page if the client validation fails. Something along the lines of "Please go back and check your answers".

The problem is, the submit button's OnClientClick event obviously fires before the client validation.

Any idea how I can get around this problem?

Answer 1

Have you set the CausesValidation property on your button? What is your OnClientClick method doing?

As I understand it you are trying to reinvent the wheel by implementing you own functionality to display the validation message. You should use a ValidationSummary control to display the message to the user. And you should also remove your custom OnClientClick function.

Answer 2

On your RequiredFieldValidator if you use both the ErrorMessage and Text attributes the value of ErrorMessage will appear in the ValidationSummary, while the value of Text will appear at the location of the RequiredFieldValidator.

E.g.:

<RequiredFieldValidator 
ErrorMessage="This will appear in the summary at the bottom of the page." 
Text="This will appear in the middle of the page." 
.../>

So to hide the ErrorMessage from the summary simply set it to an empty string:

ErrorMessage=""