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Friday, July 13, 2007

Performing Validations with ASP.NET

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RegularExpressionValidator

This validation control is used to parse strings using special characters. This is similar to the concept of Pattern Matching in PERL. This control can be used in situations such as:

  • To check for "@" character on an e-mail address (See Listing 1)
  • To verify whether the user entered valid Zip code, Telephone number and web address

 

Listing - 1

[Visual Basic .NET] 

<%@ Page Language="VB" %>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Validation Controls in Action</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form runat="server">
        <p>
            Enter your e-mail address:  
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:TextBox id="TextBox1" runat="server">
            </asp:TextBox>

            <asp:Button id="Button1" runat="server"
            Text="Click here">
            </asp:Button>
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:RegularExpressionValidator
            id="RegularExpressionValidator1"
            runat="server"
 ValidationExpression="\w+([-+.]\w+)*@\w+([-.]\w+)*\.\w+([-.]\w+)*"
            ErrorMessage="Please enter a valid E-mail ID"
            ControlToValidate="TextBox1">
            </asp:RegularExpressionValidator>
        </p>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

[C#] 

<%@ Page Language="C#" %>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Validation Controls in Action
</head>
<body>
    <form runat="server">
        <p>
            Enter your e-mail address:  
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:TextBox id="TextBox1" runat="server">
            </asp:TextBox>

            <asp:Button id="Button1" runat="server"
            Text="Click here">
            </asp:Button>
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:RegularExpressionValidator
            id="RegularExpressionValidator1"
            runat="server"
 ValidationExpression="\w+([-+.]\w+)*@\w+([-.]\w+)*\.\w+([-.]\w+)*"
            ErrorMessage="Please enter a valid E-mail ID"
            ControlToValidate="TextBox1">
            </asp:RegularExpressionValidator>
        </p>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

It is the ValidationExpression property shown in the above listings that makes the application work. Hit the click here button without entering the @ symbol and observe the output (see Figure 1). The interesting point to note is that even if you enter @ symbol, it would still show errors, till you fill out the full domain part (like yahoo.com) of the email address. It is these powerful capabilities that made this control the most popular among .NET developers and communities.

Figure 1


If you want to validate an Internet URL, simply update the ValidationExpression property in the above code with the listing as shown below:

Listing 2 

http://([\w-]+\.)+[\w-]+(/[\w- ./?%&=]*)?

Moreover, you can also write custom validation statements depending upon your project requirements.

TIP: You can easily generate the code for the ValidationExpression property with the help of Visual Studio .NET or ASP.NET WebMatrix. Simply place the control from the Toolbox and press F4 to get the properties window. From the window, move down until you see the ValidationExpression property and click the small ellipsis button on the extreme right to open the Regular Expression Editor window. From this window, you can select your choice to get predefined expression statements for a number of items.

RequiredFieldValidator

As the name denotes, this control is used in cases where a user should compulsorily enter a value, preferably in a textbox. Prior to .NET, this kind of functionality was achieved through complex JavaScript and VBScript functions. Enter the code given in the listing given below, execute and observe the result:

Listing - 3

[Visual Basic .NET] 

<%@ Page Language="VB" %>
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
    <form runat="server">
        <p>
            Your Name:
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:TextBox id="TextBox1" runat="server">
            </asp:TextBox>

            <asp:Button id="Button1" runat="server" Text="Click here">
            </asp:Button>
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:RequiredFieldValidator
            id="RequiredFieldValidator1"
            runat="server"
            ErrorMessage="The above field should not be left blank"
            ControlToValidate="TextBox1"
            display="static">
            </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
        </p>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

[C#] 

<%@ Page Language="C#" %>
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
    <form runat="server">
        <p>
            Your Name:
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:TextBox id="TextBox1" runat="server">
            </asp:TextBox>

            <asp:Button id="Button1" runat="server" Text="Click here">
            </asp:Button>
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:RequiredFieldValidator
            id="RequiredFieldValidator1"
            runat="server"
            ErrorMessage="The above field should not be left blank"
            ControlToValidate="TextBox1"
            display="static">
            </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
        </p>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

Validation Summary

With the help of this control, you can display the error messages on a page. It collects all the error messages from the enabled controls and shows them in various ways like list, bulleted list, and single paragraph (See Figure 2). It also displays the errors in a message box. The code shown in listing 4 examines the application of this control:

Listing - 4

[Visual Basic .NET] 

<%@ Page Language="vb" %>
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
    <form runat="server">
        <p>
            Enter a first value:

            <asp:TextBox id="txtValue1" runat="server">
            </asp:TextBox>

            <asp:RequiredFieldValidator id="Reqfield1"
            runat="server"
            ErrorMessage="The above field should not be left blank"
            ControlToValidate="txtValue1">
            </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
        </p>
        <p>
            Enter a second value:

            <asp:TextBox id="txtValue2" runat="server">
            </asp:TextBox>

            <asp:RequiredFieldValidator id="reqField2"
            runat="server"
            ErrorMessage="The above field should not be left blank"
            ControlToValidate="txtValue2">
            </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:Button id="btnClick" runat="server" Text="Click Here">
            </asp:Button>
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:ValidationSummary id="Validsummary"
            runat="server" HeaderText="Errors are as follows:"
            ShowMessageBox="True">
            </asp:ValidationSummary>
        </p>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

As mentioned above, the above listing also displays a message box upon execution since the ShowMessageBox property is set to true.



Figure 2 - Click here for larger image

[C#] 

<%@ Page Language="C#" %>
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
    <form runat="server">
        <p>
            Enter a first value:

            <asp:TextBox id="txtValue1" runat="server">
            </asp:TextBox>

            <asp:RequiredFieldValidator id="Reqfield1"
            runat="server"
            ErrorMessage="The above field should not be left blank"
            ControlToValidate="txtValue1">
            </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
        </p>
        <p>
            Enter a second value:

            <asp:TextBox id="txtValue2" runat="server">
            </asp:TextBox>

            <asp:RequiredFieldValidator id="reqField2"
            runat="server"
            ErrorMessage="The above field should not be left blank"
            ControlToValidate="txtValue2">
            </asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:Button id="btnClick" runat="server" Text="Click Here">
            </asp:Button>
        </p>
        <p>
            <asp:ValidationSummary id="Validsummary"
            runat="server" HeaderText="Errors are as follows:"
            ShowMessageBox="True">
            </asp:ValidationSummary>
        </p>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

From the above discussion, it is clear that all the required stuffs for validating Graphical User Interface (GUI) controls is now available under a single umbrella of Microsoft .NET. Once you learned the usage of all the controls, it is very easy to implement them, be it a WinForm or an ASP.NET WebForm.

Posted by S3 Technology Softwares at 12:48 PM

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