Question

Currently I’m setting up my domain model to use DataAnnotation validation attributes, like the RequiredAttribute and RangeAttribute.

For one property it looks like this:

  [Required(ErrorMessageResourceType = typeof(ModelValidationMessages), ErrorMessageResourceName = "SurnameRequiredMessage")]
  public string Surname { get; set; }

However this isn’t the only property, let alone the only model class. The validation messages, however, are only listed only in the ErrorMessageResourceType resource class for the entire assembly.

Questions:

• Is it possible to define the ErrorMessageResourceType property for an entire class?
• Is it possible to define the ErrorMessageResourceType property for an entire assembly?
• If not, any other way?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You could write a custom DataAnnotationsModelValidator:

public class GlobalResourceTypeResourceDataAnnotationsModelValidator : DataAnnotationsModelValidator<ValidationAttribute>
{
    public GlobalResourceTypeResourceDataAnnotationsModelValidator(
        ModelMetadata metadata, 
        ControllerContext context, 
        ValidationAttribute attribute
    )
        : base(metadata, context, attribute)
    {
        if (Attribute.ErrorMessageResourceType == null)
        {
            Attribute.ErrorMessageResourceType = typeof(ModelValidationMessages);
        }
    }
}

and then in Application_Start you need to register an adapter for each attribute you use:

DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(RequiredAttribute), typeof(GlobalResourceTypeResourceDataAnnotationsModelValidator));
DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(StringLengthAttribute), typeof(GlobalResourceTypeResourceDataAnnotationsModelValidator));
...