Question

I wrote a simple asp.net code with the asp.net required validator control, the problem is that I only have one submit button called GO, and a dropdownlist that looks for the selection :
clear, submit, cancel.

No matter what option is selected, the required field validation is being fired.

Is there a way to code the page so only when the selected value is Submit it validates?

<asp:TextBox runat="server" id="txtName" />
    <asp:RequiredFieldValidator runat="server" id="reqName" controltovalidate="txtName" errormessage="Please enter your name!" />
    <br /><br />


    <asp:DropDownList ID="dpAction" runat="server">
                 <asp:ListItem>Submit</asp:ListItem>
                 <asp:ListItem Value="Reset">Reset</asp:ListItem>
                 <asp:ListItem>Cancel</asp:ListItem>
             </asp:DropDownList>
    &nbsp;
             <asp:Button ID="btnAction" runat="server" onclick="btnAction_Click" Text="Go" 
                 Width="40px" />

Answer 1

You will probably have to use a custom validator, and you would need to write the client side code for it also if you want client side validation.

I’m assuming you have a text box or something else that is required when “dpAction” is set to “Submit”?

So for example you would do something like this in your markup

<asp:CustomValidator id="CustomValidator1" runat="server" 
   OnServerValidate="TextValidate" 
   ControlToValidate="TextBox1" 
   ErrorMessage="Text must be specified if Submit is selected">

and in your code-behind

protected void TextValidate(object source, ServerValidateEventArgs args)
{
   args.IsValid = dpAction.SelectedValue == "Submit" && !String.IsNullOrEmpty(textbox1.Text);
}