Question

I am trying to work out client side validation and have followed a couple of tutorials , it looks quite simple but i have no idea why its not working on my project, below is the code:

 <script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/jquery-1.4.1.min.js"></script>
 <script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/jquery.validate.js"></script>
 <script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/MicrosoftMvcJQueryValidation.js"></script>

    <% Html.EnableClientValidation(); %>
    <% using (Html.BeginForm()) {%>
    <%: Html.ValidationSummary("Please Correct the errors and try again")%>

    <div class="editor-label">
            <%: Html.LabelFor(model => model.test,"Test") %>
        </div>
        </td>
        <td>
        <div class="editor-field">
            <%: Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.test)%>
            <%: Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.test)%>
        </div>
        </td>
        </tr>

edited:
master page

 <script type="text/javascript" src="<%= Url.Content("~/scripts/jquery-1.5.1.js") %>"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="<%= Url.Content("~/scripts/jquery.validate.js") %>"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="<%= Url.Content("~/scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.js") %>"> </script>
    <script src="/Scripts/jquery-ui.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/tiny_mce/jquery.tinymce.js"></script>
    <script src="/Scripts/ie6.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

Any ideas Why the client side validation doesnt works when I press tab for that field.

Answer 1

In ASP.NET MVC 3, jquery and jquery.validate are the default frameworks for doing client side validation. So modify your code to look like this:

<script type="text/javascript" src="<%= Url.Content("~/scripts/jquery-1.5.1.js") %>"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="<%= Url.Content("~/scripts/jquery.validate.js") %>"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="<%= Url.Content("~/scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.js") %>"></script>

<% using (Html.BeginForm()) { %>
    <%= Html.ValidationSummary("Please Correct the errors and try again") %>

    <div class="editor-label">
        <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.test, "Test") %>
    </div>
    <div class="editor-field">
        <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.test) %>
        <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.test) %>
    </div>
<% } %>

Things to notice:

• Using jQuery 1.5.1 which is the default one bundled with ASP.NET MVC 3 RTM and the Tools Update. Make sure you use a later version of jQuery as IIRC there was some incompatibility between the jquery.validate plugin and the jquery version.
• Using jquery.validate.js
• Using jquery.validate.unobtrusive.js which unobtrusively attaches the jQuery.validate plugin to HTML5 data-* attributes emitted by the Html helpers.
• Using the Url.Content helper to reference static resources instead of hardcoding their locations.
• No more need to call Html.EnableClientValidation()
• No more need to include any javascript that starts with the prefix Microsoft*

One final note: make sure that in your web.config unobtrusive client script validation is enabled:

<appSettings>
    ...
    <add key="ClientValidationEnabled" value="true" />
</appSettings>

The best way to get the latest versions of those scripts is to install the ASP.NET MVC 3 Tools Update, create a new ASP.NET MVC 3 project using the default wizard in Visual Studio and fetch those 3 scripts.