ASP.NET MVC Unobtrusive client validation not working

Question

In my ASP.NET MVC 4 application I am trying to use unobtrusive client validation with Fluent Validation.

<script src="/Scripts/jquery.validate.min.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script src="/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>

I have these two .js files that VS2010 provides when new ASP.NET MVC 4 application is created. I have also enabled client side validation on my web.config file.

<appSettings>
  <add key="ClientValidationEnabled" value="true" />
  <add key="UnobtrusiveJavaScriptEnabled" value="true" />
</appSettings>

As far as I know when client validation and unobtrusive JavaScript is enabled, input fields with a client-validation rule contain the data-val="true" attribute to trigger unobtrusive client validation. And I have these field on my input fields.

For instance,

<input class="input-validation-error" data-val="true" data-val- 
required="error text here" id="purchasePrice" 
name="PurchasePrice" type="text" value="">

<span class="field-validation-error error" data-valmsg-for="PurchasePrice" 
data-valmsg-replace="true">'Purchase Price' must not be empty.</span>

However, when I submit my form, it is posted to controller and my model is checked on my controller code instead of client side.

EDIT :

This is my form opening tag.

@using (Html.BeginForm("Create", "Product", FormMethod.Post, 
   new { enctype = "multipart/form-data", @class = "mainForm",
         @id = "productCreateForm" }))

Any ideas? Thanks.

Answer 1

Did you add the configuration for MVC?

protected void Application_Start() {
    AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();

    RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
    RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);

    // this line is required for fluent validation
    FluentValidationModelValidatorProvider.Configure();
}

You also need to configure each view model / validator:

[Validator(typeof(PersonValidator))]
public class Person {
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

public class PersonValidator : AbstractValidator<Person> {
    public PersonValidator() {
        RuleFor(x => x.Id).NotNull();
        RuleFor(x => x.Name).Length(0, 10);
        RuleFor(x => x.Email).EmailAddress();
        RuleFor(x => x.Age).InclusiveBetween(18, 60);
    }
}

If this does not help, could you post an example of a validator that is not working correctly? Not all validation can be done client side. For example, the following validator will only work server side:

// when validator rules are always server side
public class ServerSideValidator : AbstractValidator<Person> {
    public ServerSideValidator() {
        When(x => x.Name == "Foo", () => {
            RuleFor(x => x.Email).EmailAddress();
        });
    }
}