Question

I have a custom UserControl which contains several TextBoxes with Validators. One TextBox with corresponding Validator is optional based on a CheckBox. Pseudo:

My Control.ascx:

<asp:TextBox id="txtAddress" />
<asp:Validator id="valAddress" />

<asp:CheckBox id="condition" />
<asp:TextBox id="txtConditional" />
<asp:Validator id="valConditional" ValidationGroup="ConditionalGroup" />

My Control.ascx.cs

public void Validate() {
    if(condition.Checked) {
        Page.Validate("ConditionalGroup");
    }
}

I also have a page which basically looks like this:

Page.aspx

<my:Control id="myControl" />

<asp:Button onClick="doPost" />

Page.aspx.cs

protected void doPost(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    myControl.Validate(); //This feels wrong

    if(Page.IsValid) {
        //go
    }
}

This all works, however I would like to take the myControl.Validate() line out of the Page.aspx.cs and put it in the My Control.ascx.cs. Putting it in the Page_Load of the control is not an option because the conditional checkbox value is always false. There is no event available after Page_Load and before the doPost click handler is fired…

It feels wrong to call the custom Validate function on the Page where I think it should belong somewhere in the UserControl. Is it true that this is architecturally wrong? Is there another solution for this maybe by using an event handler?

Answer 1

You could try by enabling the validator only if the user checks on the check box. And disable the validator if the unchecks it. This has to be done in the user control. It can be done in the client side or in the server side. In this way, the page would validate all the validators that are enabled for the page.