Question

I have a simple loginform based on the following modelitem

   public class LogOnModelItem
    {
        [Required(ErrorMessage="Brukernavn er påkrevd")]
        [DisplayName("Brukernavn")]
        public string UserName { get; set; }

        [Required(ErrorMessage="Passord er påkrevd")]
        [DataType(DataType.Password)]
        [DisplayName("Passord")]
        public string Password { get; set; }

        [DisplayName("Husk meg?")]
        public bool RememberMe { get; set; }
    }

The view is :

<h2>Login</h2>

<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>

@using (Html.BeginForm()) {
    @Html.ValidationSummary(true)
    <table>
        <tr>
            <td>@Html.LabelFor(model => model.UserName)</td>
            <td>
                @Html.EditorFor(model => model.UserName)
                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.UserName)
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>@Html.LabelFor(model => model.Password)</td>
            <td>
                @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Password)
                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Password)
            </td>
        </tr>        <tr>
            <td>@Html.LabelFor(model => model.RememberMe)</td>
            <td>
                @Html.EditorFor(model => model.RememberMe)
                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.RememberMe)
            </td>
        </tr>
     </table>
        <p>
            <input type="submit" value="Create" />
        </p>
}

The controller:

   public ActionResult Login(LogOnModelItem lmi)
    {
        return View(lmi);
    }

When I load this up in the browser the validation is apparently run on pageload. This then outlines the username and password in red, with the error message supplied after each line. I have 3 questions for this, in order of importance:

1: How do I make sure the validation is not run until after the user presses submit.
2: How do I display the validation summary?
3: How do I make the “username” field choosen by default and ready to accept input?

Answer to #1:

public ActionResult Login()
{
    return View();
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Login(LogOnModelItem lmi)
{
    return View(lmi);
}

Answer to #2

@Html.ValidationSummary(false)

Answer to #3

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function () {
        $('#UserName').focus();
    });
</script>

Answer 1

1: How do I make sure the validation is not run until after the user presses submit

This should already be the case. If you have a GET action rendering this form and supplying a view model there won’t be any validation errors. It’s the POST action that would show the validation messages and if you have client validation enabled it could also happen onblur.

2: How do I display the validation summary?

You already did: @Html.ValidationSummary(true)

3: How do I make the “username” field choosen by default and ready to accept input?

You could use javascript:

$(function() {
    $('#UserName').focus();    
});