I have a view model that looks like this: public class VenueIndexViewModel : BaseViewModel

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Asked: May 28, 20262026-05-28T05:16:30+00:00 2026-05-28T05:16:30+00:00

I have a view model that looks like this: public class VenueIndexViewModel : BaseViewModel

0

I have a view model that looks like this:

public class VenueIndexViewModel : BaseViewModel
{
    public VenueAddViewModel Venue;
    ...
}

public class VenueAddViewModel
{
    ...
    [Required(ErrorMessage = "This field is required")]
    public string State { get; set; }
    ...
}

In my view, I’m rendering a form with with a drop down list for this property like so:

using (var form = Html.BeginForm())
{ 
    ...
    @Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.Venue.State, Model.GetStates())
    @Html.ValidationMessageFor(x => x.Venue.State)
    ...
}

This works, but the problem is that the the Required attribute on the view model appears to be ignored. If I look at the HTML, the data-val-* attributes are missing as well.

<select id="Venue_State" name="Venue.State">...</select>

However, if I change the rendering to a textbox…

using (var form = Html.BeginForm())
{ 
    ...
    @Html.TextBoxFor(x => x.Venue.State)
    @Html.ValidationMessageFor(x => x.Venue.State)
    ...
}

I see the expected data-val-* attributes and the validation works:

<input data-val="true" 
    data-val-required="This field is required" 
    id="Venue_State" name="Venue.State" type="text" value="">

I should note that I have other view models elsewhere that use DropDownListFor with a flat view model (no nested objects) and the validation works fine there, so I’m thinking I’ve hit a bug in the MVC validation handling for drop down lists when using a nested view model. Can anyone confirm / advise?