Question

Inherited properties and MetadataType does not seem to work with client side validation in ASP.NET MVC 2.

The validation of our MetadataTypes work as expected on the server but for some reason it does not generate the appropriate client scripts for it. Client side validation kicks in as expected for properties with the DataAnnotations attributes set on the PersonView so I know that client side validation is active and that it works. Does anyone know if or how it can be fixed?

Here’s what we have:

public abstract class PersonView
{
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; }
    [Required] public string PhoneNumber { get; set; }
    public string AddressLine1 { get; set; }
    public string AddressLine2 { get; set; }
    public string AddressZipCode { get; set; }
    public string AddressCity { get; set; }
    public string AddressCountry { get; set; }
}

[MetadataType(typeof(CustomerViewMetaData))]
public class CustomerView : PersonView {}

[MetadataType(typeof(GuestViewMetaData))]
public class GuestView : PersonView {}

public class GuestViewMetaData
{
    [Required(ErrorMessage = "The guests firstname is required")] public string FirstName { get; set; }
    [Required(ErrorMessage = "The guests lastname is required")] public string LastName { get; set; }
}

public class CustomerViewMetaData
{
    [Required(ErrorMessage = "The customers firstname is required")] public string FirstName { get; set; }
    [Required(ErrorMessage = "The customers lastname is required")] public string LastName { get; set; }
    [Required(ErrorMessage = "The customers emails is required")] public string Email { get; set; }
}

As you can see, it’s nothing fancy or strange in there… Can it be fixed? Is it a bug in ASP.NET MVC 2?

Answer 1

According to a Microsoft official this is a bug in ASP.NET MVC 2. I was given the link below and although the scenario isn’t exactly the same, it seems to be the same problem. As far as I can tell it is related to inhertited properties and DataAnnotations model metadata provider. The link says they will try to fix the issue in ASP.NET MVC 3.

Asp.net MVC 2 RC2: the client side validation does not work with overridden properties