Question

New to MVC, so hopefully this will be pretty simple. I have an HTML drop down list that I would like to set as required on a contact form, however when I apply data annotations do the class I can’t seem to get it to fire as required on the post back. The default value is “”

Here is my html snippet:

<div class="editor-field">
    <select name="ContactReason" size="1" class="textBox">
        <option value=""></option>
        <option value="I have a question about this website">I have a question about this website</option>
        <option value="My account is locked">My account is locked</option>
        <option value="I am experiencing problems with the website">I am experiencing problems with the website</option>
    </select>
    @Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.ContactReason)
</div>

Below is my C# code with my annotations. I have tried setting a required attribute and even a range attribute but neither seem to do the trick.

[Required(ErrorMessage = "Your reason for contacting is required.")]
[Range(2, 100,
ErrorMessage = "Your reason for contacting is required.")]
public virtual string ContactReason { get; set; }

Thank you for your guidance.

Flea

Answer 1

I found the following website helpful: http://codeoverload.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/dropdown-lists-in-mvc-3/

I implemented the following and it worked well for me:

Model:

public List<SelectListItem> ContactReasons { get; set; }

[Required(ErrorMessage = "Your reason for contacting is required.")]
public virtual string ContactReason { get; set; }

Controller:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    var Model = new ContactForm();
    Model.ContactReasons = this.GetContactReasons();
    return View(Model);
}

private List<SelectListItem> GetContactReasons()
{
    List<SelectListItem> items = new List<SelectListItem>();
    items.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "", Value = "" });
    items.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "I have a question about this website", Value = "I have a question about this website" });
    items.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "I am experiencing problems with the website", Value = "I am experiencing problems with the website" });

    return items;
}

View:

<div class="editor-label">
    @Html.Label("I am contacting because:")
</div><br />
<div class="editor-field">
   @Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.ContactReason, Model.ContactReasons)
   @Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.ContactReason)
</div>