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How can I enhance ModelBinder in ASP.NET Core (update property values for a model class)

I would like to enhance final result that ModelBinder returns.
For example:
public class MyModel
{
public int Order {get;set;}
[MyUpperCaseAttribute]
public string Title {get;set;}
}
In API method I expect that all string properties in MyModel which has MyUpperCaseAttribute is in upper case.
For example:
[HttpPost("AddRecord")]
public async Task<ActionResult<int>> AddRecord(MyModel model)
{
model.Title should be upper case, even if send from client in lower case.
}
My idea was to override default ModelBinder and enumerate through all properties and check if property is string and has MyUpperCaseAttribute and correct property value to upper case. I check documentation, but doesn't examples doesn't fill right, since they completely redesign what is returned. I would like to just modify result properties.
What would be the best option to achieve desired behaviour?
Important: (edited):
It would be nice if directive attributes could be stacked:
public class MyModel
{
public int Order {get;set;}
[MyUpperCaseAttribute]
[RemoveSpacesAttribute]
public string Title {get;set;}
}
Edited:
It looks similar to this, but if not other, this is ASP.NET Core, and on link is just ASP.NET. Method, properties, interfaces... are not the same.
I should say, that it would be nice if JSON case rule would work:
public class MyModel
{
public int Order {get;set;}
public string Title {get;set;}
}
should work if {order: 1, title: "test"} (notice lowercase) is send from JavaScript.

This might not be the 'best' option, but I would just use .ToUpper() extension method instead of a custom attribute filter.
public class MyModel
{
private string _title;
public int Order {get;set;}
public string Title { get => _title.ToUpper(); set => _title = value.ToUpper(); }
}

There's a big red herring here, and that's the fact that it appears that this is the sort of thing that could and should be accomplished via model binding. Unfortunately, that's not the case in ASP.Net Core Web API: because the incoming data is JSON, it is in fact handled by input formatters, not model binders. Therefore, in order to achieve the desired effect, you need to create your own custom input formatter that replaces the standard JsonInputFormatter.
First the attribute:
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property)]
public class ToUppercaseAttribute : Attribute
{
}
Then we decorate our model class with it:
public class MyModel
{
public int Order { get; set; }
[ToUppercase]
public string Title { get; set; }
}
Now create our custom input formatter that checks for that attribute and transforms the output if necessary. In this case, it simply wraps and delegates to JsonInputFormatter to do the heavy lifting as normal, then modifies the result if it finds our ToUppercaseAttribute attribute on any string property:
public class ToUppercaseJsonInputFormatter : TextInputFormatter
{
private readonly JsonInputFormatter _jsonInputFormatter;
public ToUppercaseJsonInputFormatter(JsonInputFormatter jsonInputFormatter)
{
_jsonInputFormatter = jsonInputFormatter;
foreach (var supportedEncoding in _jsonInputFormatter.SupportedEncodings)
SupportedEncodings.Add(supportedEncoding);
foreach (var supportedMediaType in _jsonInputFormatter.SupportedMediaTypes)
SupportedMediaTypes.Add(supportedMediaType);
}
public override Task<InputFormatterResult> ReadRequestBodyAsync(InputFormatterContext context, Encoding encoding)
{
var result = _jsonInputFormatter.ReadRequestBodyAsync(context, encoding);
foreach (var property in context.ModelType.GetProperties().Where(p => p.PropertyType.IsAssignableFrom(typeof(string))
&& p.CustomAttributes.Any(a => a.AttributeType.IsAssignableFrom(typeof(ToUppercaseAttribute)))))
{
var value = (string)property.GetValue(result.Result.Model);
property.SetValue(result.Result.Model, value.ToUpper());
}
return result;
}
}
Next we create an extension method that makes it simple to substitute the default JsonInputFormatter with our custom formatter:
public static class MvcOptionsExtensions
{
public static void UseToUppercaseJsonInputFormatter(this MvcOptions opts)
{
if (opts.InputFormatters.FirstOrDefault(f => f is JsonInputFormatter && !(f is JsonPatchInputFormatter)) is JsonInputFormatter jsonInputFormatter)
{
var jsonInputFormatterIndex = opts.InputFormatters.IndexOf(jsonInputFormatter);
opts.InputFormatters[jsonInputFormatterIndex] = new ToUppercaseJsonInputFormatter(jsonInputFormatter);
}
}
}
And finally, call that method to effect the replacement in Startup.cs:
public class Startup
{
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
services
.AddMvc(options => options.UseToUppercaseJsonInputFormatter());
}
}
Et voilà!

You can do this thing inside your MyUpperCaseAttribute as follows:
public class MyUpperCaseAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
{
if(value != null)
{
validationContext.ObjectType
.GetProperty(validationContext.MemberName)
.SetValue(validationContext.ObjectInstance, value.ToString().ToUpper(), null);
}
return null;
}
}
Property value will be converted to UpperCase during Model Binding. I have checked it in my side and it works perfectly.

ASP.NET Core - Custom model validation

In MVC when we post a model to an action we do the following in order to validate the model against the data annotation of that model:
if (ModelState.IsValid)
If we mark a property as [Required], the ModelState.IsValid will validate that property if contains a value or not.
My question: How can I manually build and run custom validator?
P.S. I am talking about backend validator only.

In .NET Core, you can simply create a class that inherits from ValidationAttribute. You can see the full details in the ASP.NET Core MVC Docs.
Here's the example taken straight from the docs:
public class ClassicMovieAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
private int _year;
public ClassicMovieAttribute(int Year)
{
_year = Year;
}
protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
{
Movie movie = (Movie)validationContext.ObjectInstance;
if (movie.Genre == Genre.Classic && movie.ReleaseDate.Year > _year)
{
return new ValidationResult(GetErrorMessage());
}
return ValidationResult.Success;
}
}
I've adapted the example to exclude client-side validation, as requested in your question.
In order to use this new attribute (again, taken from the docs), you need to add it to the relevant field:
[ClassicMovie(1960)]
[DataType(DataType.Date)]
public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; }
Here's another, simpler example for ensuring that a value is true:
public class EnforceTrueAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
public EnforceTrueAttribute()
: base("The {0} field must be true.") { }
public override bool IsValid(object value) =>
value is bool valueAsBool && valueAsBool;
}
This is applied in the same way:
[EnforceTrue]
public bool ThisShouldBeTrue { get; set; }
Edit: Front-End Code as requested:
<div asp-validation-summary="All" class="text-danger"></div>
The options are All, ModelOnly or None.

To create a custom validation attribute in .Net Core, you need to inherit from IModelValidator and implement Validate method.
Custom validator
public class ValidUrlAttribute : Attribute, IModelValidator
{
public string ErrorMessage { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<ModelValidationResult> Validate(ModelValidationContext context)
{
var url = context.Model as string;
if (url != null && Uri.IsWellFormedUriString(url, UriKind.Absolute))
{
return Enumerable.Empty<ModelValidationResult>();
}
return new List<ModelValidationResult>
{
new ModelValidationResult(context.ModelMetadata.PropertyName, ErrorMessage)
};
}
}
The model
public class Product
{
public int ProductId { get; set; }
[Required]
public string ProductName { get; set; }
[Required]
[ValidUrl]
public string ProductThumbnailUrl { get; set; }
}
Will this approach give opportunity to work with "ModelState.IsValid" property in controller action method?
Yes! The ModelState object will correctly reflect the errors.
Can this approach be applied to the model class? Or it can be used with model class properties only?
I don't know if that could be applied onto class level. I know you can get the information about the class from ModelValidationContext though:
context.Model: returns the property value that is to be validated
context.Container: returns the object that contains the property
context.ActionContext: provides context data and describes the action method that processes the request
context.ModelMetadata: describes the model class that is being validated in detail
Notes:
This validation attribute doesn't work with Client Validation, as requested in OP.

Is it wrong to dynamically add "data-val" and "data-val-required" in the View?

I have a ViewModel that I can decorate with the [Required] attribute (see below). I've come to the point where I need to let the client control which fields are required or not. They can configure this trough XML and all this info is stored in the Model when it's first created. Now I have fields that are not decorated with [Required] but still need to get validated (as per "user settings") before submitting (for example the Phone field).
public class MyBusinessObjectViewModel
{
[Required]
public string Email { get; set; } //compulsory
public string Phone { get; set; } //not (yet) compulsory, but might become
}
If the user will not enter the Phone number, the data will still get posted. Wanting not to mess with custom validators, I just add the "data-val" and "data-val-required" attributes to the Html, like this:
Dictionary<string, object> dict = new Dictionary<string, object>();
dict.Add("data-val", "true");
dict.Add("data-val-required", "This field is required.");
#Html.TextBoxFor(x => x, dict);
This forces the client side validation for all the properties that are dynamically set as required. Is this good practice? What kind of side effects can I expect?

You should look into extending the meta model framework with your own metadata provider to do the actual binding between your site's configuration and the model metadata. You can actually set the required property flag to true on the property model metadata during the metadata creation process. I can't remember for sure whether this causes the built in editor templates to generate the attribute, but I think it does. Worst case scenario you can actually create and attach a new RequiredAttribute to the property, which is a tad bit kluggy, but works pretty well in certain scenarios.
You could also do this with IMetadataAware attributes, especially if Required is the only metadata aspect your users can customize, but the implementation really depends on what you're trying to do.
One major advantage of using a custom ModelMetadataProvider in your specific case is that you can use dependency injection (via ModelMetadataProviders) to get your customer settings persistence mechanism into scope, whereas with the data attribute you only get to write an isolated method that runs immediately after the metadata model is created.
Here is a sample implementation of a custom model metadata provider, you'd just have to change the client settings to whatever you wanted to use.
UPDATED but not tested at all
public class ClientSettingsProvider
{
public ClientSettingsProvider(/* db info */) { /* init */ }
public bool IsPropertyRequired(string propertyIdentifier)
{
// check the property identifier here and return status
}
}
public ClientRequiredAttribute : Attribute
{
string _identifier;
public string Identifier { get { return _identifer; } }
public ClientRequiredAttribute(string identifier)
{ _identifier = identifier; }
}
public class RequiredModelMetadataProvider : DataAnnotationsModelMetadataProvider
{
ClientSettings _clientSettings;
public RequiredModelMetadataProvider(ClientSettings clientSettings)
{
_clientSettings = clientSettings;
}
protected override ModelMetadata CreateMetadata(IEnumerable<Attribute> attributes, Type containerType, Func<object> modelAccessor, Type modelType, string propertyName)
{
// alternatively here is where you could 'inject' a RequiredAttribute into the attributes list
var clientRequiredAttribute = attributes.OfType<ClientRequiredAttribute>().SingleOrDefault();
if(clientRequiredAttribute != null && _clientSettings.IsPropertyRequired(clientRequiredAttribute.Identifier))
{
// By injecting the Required attribute here it will seem to
// the base provider we are extending as if the property was
// marked with [Required]. Your data validation attributes should
// be added, provide you are using the default editor templates in
// you view.
attributes = attributes.Union(new [] { new RequiredAttribute() });
}
var metadata = base.CreateMetadata(attributes, containerType, modelAccessor, modelType, propertyName);
// REMOVED, this is another way but I'm not 100% sure it will add your attributes
// Use whatever attributes you need here as parameters...
//if (_clientSettings.IsPropertyRequired(containerType, propertyName))
//{
// metadata.IsRequired = true;
//}
return metadata;
}
}
USAGE
public class MyModel
{
[ClientRequired("CompanyName")]
public string Company { get; set; }
}
public class MyOtherModel
{
[ClientRequired("CompanyName")]
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Address { get; set; }
}
Both of these models would validate the string "CompanyName" against your client settings provider.

Not wanting to mess with custom validators, so you messed in the View obfuscating the logic of your validation by removing it from the place where it is expected to be found.
Really, don't be afraid of creating a custom attribute validator. What you are doing right now is getting a technical debt.

IValidatableObject only in some actions

I have a model that implement IValidatlableObject, and so custom error checking through Validate method.
When I create an object all is fine, but when I try to edit that object, I wan't to do that custom validation.
How can I know from wich action I'm calling the Validate method in order to no do the validation?
UPDATED:
This is mi model:
public class Ingredient : IValidatableObject
{
public int Id { get; set; }
[Required(ErrorMessage = "Required!!")]
public string Name { get; set; }
public virtual List<Product> Products { get; set; }
public Ingredient()
{
Products = new List<Product>();
}
public IEnumerable<ValidationResult> Validate(ValidationContext validationContext)
{
using (var uow = new UnitOfWork())
{
var ingredient = uow.IngredientRepository.Get(i => i.Name ==Name).FirstOrDefault();
if (ingredient != null)
yield return new ValidationResult("Duplicate!!!.", new[] { "Name" });
}
}
}
}
So When I create an Ingredient I want to validate ALL (Attributes + IValidatable)
but when I edit an Ingrendient I only want to validate attributes (so I mean skip IValidatable)
Any method to know, inside the IValidatable method, from where I'm calling Validate ?
Thanks!!!

Check primary key of model - whether it is not null :)

The more "MVCish" correct way here is you actually have two classes, one for the Create method one for the edit. You can call off to a base class for any shared validation, anything then not shared wouldn't be checked here.

If you don't want to validate an object, don't call Model.IsValid (or Validate(), if you're doing it explicitly. Can't answer more than that without knowing more details about your problem.

ASP.NET MVC Conditional validation

How to use data annotations to do a conditional validation on model?
For example, lets say we have the following model (Person and Senior):
public class Person
{
[Required(ErrorMessage = "*")]
public string Name
{
get;
set;
}
public bool IsSenior
{
get;
set;
}
public Senior Senior
{
get;
set;
}
}
public class Senior
{
[Required(ErrorMessage = "*")]//this should be conditional validation, based on the "IsSenior" value
public string Description
{
get;
set;
}
}
And the following view:
<%= Html.EditorFor(m => m.Name)%>
<%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.Name)%>
<%= Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m.IsSenior)%>
<%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.IsSenior)%>
<%= Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m.Senior.Description)%>
<%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.Senior.Description)%>
I would like to be the "Senior.Description" property conditional required field based on the selection of the "IsSenior" propery (true -> required). How to implement conditional validation in ASP.NET MVC 2 with data annotations?

There's a much better way to add conditional validation rules in MVC3; have your model inherit IValidatableObject and implement the Validate method:
public class Person : IValidatableObject
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public bool IsSenior { get; set; }
public Senior Senior { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<ValidationResult> Validate(ValidationContext validationContext)
{
if (IsSenior && string.IsNullOrEmpty(Senior.Description))
yield return new ValidationResult("Description must be supplied.");
}
}
Read more at Introducing ASP.NET MVC 3 (Preview 1).

I have solved this by handling the "ModelState" dictionary, which is contained by the controller. The ModelState dictionary includes all the members that have to be validated.
Here is the solution:
If you need to implement a conditional validation based on some field (e.g. if A=true, then B is required), while maintaining property level error messaging (this is not true for the custom validators that are on object level) you can achieve this by handling "ModelState", by simply removing unwanted validations from it.
...In some class...
public bool PropertyThatRequiredAnotherFieldToBeFilled
{
get;
set;
}
[Required(ErrorMessage = "*")]
public string DepentedProperty
{
get;
set;
}
...class continues...
...In some controller action ...
if (!PropertyThatRequiredAnotherFieldToBeFilled)
{
this.ModelState.Remove("DepentedProperty");
}
...
With this we achieve conditional validation, while leaving everything else the same.
UPDATE:
This is my final implementation: I have used an interface on the model and the action attribute that validates the model which implements the said interface. Interface prescribes the Validate(ModelStateDictionary modelState) method. The attribute on action just calls the Validate(modelState) on IValidatorSomething.
I did not want to complicate this answer, so I did not mention the final implementation details (which, at the end, matter in production code).

I had the same problem yesterday but I did it in a very clean way which works for both client side and server side validation.
Condition: Based on the value of other property in the model, you want to make another property required. Here is the code
public class RequiredIfAttribute : RequiredAttribute
{
private String PropertyName { get; set; }
private Object DesiredValue { get; set; }
public RequiredIfAttribute(String propertyName, Object desiredvalue)
{
PropertyName = propertyName;
DesiredValue = desiredvalue;
}
protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext context)
{
Object instance = context.ObjectInstance;
Type type = instance.GetType();
Object proprtyvalue = type.GetProperty(PropertyName).GetValue(instance, null);
if (proprtyvalue.ToString() == DesiredValue.ToString())
{
ValidationResult result = base.IsValid(value, context);
return result;
}
return ValidationResult.Success;
}
}
Here PropertyName is the property on which you want to make your condition
DesiredValue is the particular value of the PropertyName (property) for which your other property has to be validated for required
Say you have the following
public class User
{
public UserType UserType { get; set; }
[RequiredIf("UserType", UserType.Admin, ErrorMessageResourceName = "PasswordRequired", ErrorMessageResourceType = typeof(ResourceString))]
public string Password
{
get;
set;
}
}
At last but not the least , register adapter for your attribute so that it can do client side validation (I put it in global.asax, Application_Start)
DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(RequiredIfAttribute),typeof(RequiredAttributeAdapter));

I've been using this amazing nuget that does dynamic annotations ExpressiveAnnotations
You could validate any logic you can dream of:
public string Email { get; set; }
public string Phone { get; set; }
[RequiredIf("Email != null")]
[RequiredIf("Phone != null")]
[AssertThat("AgreeToContact == true")]
public bool? AgreeToContact { get; set; }

You can disable validators conditionally by removing errors from ModelState:
ModelState["DependentProperty"].Errors.Clear();

Thanks Merritt :)
I've just updated this to MVC 3 in case anyone finds it useful: Conditional Validation in ASP.NET MVC 3.

There is now a framework that does this conditional validation (among other handy data annotation validations) out of the box:
http://foolproof.codeplex.com/
Specifically, take a look at the [RequiredIfTrue("IsSenior")] validator. You put that directly on the property you want to validate, so you get the desired behavior of the validation error being associated to the "Senior" property.
It is available as a NuGet package.

You need to validate at Person level, not on Senior level, or Senior must have a reference to its parent Person. It seems to me that you need a self validation mechanism that defines the validation on the Person and not on one of its properties. I'm not sure, but I don't think DataAnnotations supports this out of the box. What you can do create your own Attribute that derives from ValidationAttribute that can be decorated on class level and next create a custom validator that also allows those class-level validators to run.
I know Validation Application Block supports self-validation out-of the box, but VAB has a pretty steep learning curve. Nevertheless, here's an example using VAB:
[HasSelfValidation]
public class Person
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public bool IsSenior { get; set; }
public Senior Senior { get; set; }
[SelfValidation]
public void ValidateRange(ValidationResults results)
{
if (this.IsSenior && this.Senior != null &&
string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.Senior.Description))
{
results.AddResult(new ValidationResult(
"A senior description is required",
this, "", "", null));
}
}
}

I had the same problem, needed a modification of [Required] attribute - make field required in dependence of http request.The solution was similar to Dan Hunex answer, but his solution didn't work correctly (see comments). I don't use unobtrusive validation, just MicrosoftMvcValidation.js out of the box.
Here it is. Implement your custom attribute:
public class RequiredIfAttribute : RequiredAttribute
{
public RequiredIfAttribute(/*You can put here pararmeters if You need, as seen in other answers of this topic*/)
{
}
protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext context)
{
//You can put your logic here
return ValidationResult.Success;//I don't need its server-side so it always valid on server but you can do what you need
}
}
Then you need to implement your custom provider to use it as an adapter in your global.asax
public class RequreIfValidator : DataAnnotationsModelValidator <RequiredIfAttribute>
{
ControllerContext ccontext;
public RequreIfValidator(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context, RequiredIfAttribute attribute)
: base(metadata, context, attribute)
{
ccontext = context;// I need only http request
}
//override it for custom client-side validation
public override IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules()
{
//here you can customize it as you want
ModelClientValidationRule rule = new ModelClientValidationRule()
{
ErrorMessage = ErrorMessage,
//and here is what i need on client side - if you want to make field required on client side just make ValidationType "required"
ValidationType =(ccontext.HttpContext.Request["extOperation"] == "2") ? "required" : "none";
};
return new ModelClientValidationRule[] { rule };
}
}
And modify your global.asax with a line
DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(RequiredIfAttribute), typeof(RequreIfValidator));
and here it is
[RequiredIf]
public string NomenclatureId { get; set; }
The main advantage for me is that I don't have to code custom client validator as in case of unobtrusive validation. it works just as [Required], but only in cases that you want.

Check out Simon Ince's Conditional Validation in MVC.
I am working through his example project right now.

Typical usage for conditional removal of error from Model State:
Make conditional first part of controller action
Perform logic to remove error from ModelState
Do the rest of the existing logic (typically Model State validation, then everything else)
Example:
public ActionResult MyAction(MyViewModel vm)
{
// perform conditional test
// if true, then remove from ModelState (e.g. ModelState.Remove("MyKey")
// Do typical model state validation, inside following if:
// if (!ModelState.IsValid)
// Do rest of logic (e.g. fetching, saving
In your example, keep everything as is and add the logic suggested to your Controller's Action. I'm assuming your ViewModel passed to the controller action has the Person and Senior Person objects with data populated in them from the UI.

I'm using MVC 5 but you could try something like this:
public DateTime JobStart { get; set; }
[AssertThat("StartDate >= JobStart", ErrorMessage = "Time Manager may not begin before job start date")]
[DisplayName("Start Date")]
[Required]
public DateTime? StartDate { get; set; }
In your case you would say something like "IsSenior == true".
Then you just need to check the validation on your post action.