Link in validation summary message

Question

Is it possible to put a HTML link in validation summary message? For example I want to put a link to another page in case there is validation error:

@Html.ValidationSummary(False, "read <a href=""anotherpage.html"">more</a>")

or

@Html.ValidationSummary(False, "read " &
    Html.ActionLink("more", "helpforerror").ToHtmlString)

But in the browser the tag is escaped so it doesn't form a link.

Answer 1

I know you have accepted an answer, but i think my solution is more simple and will require less rewriting if you want to add links to existing validation summaries.

You need to put a {0} type format item in your validation message like below, which will be replaced by your link.

ModelState.AddModelError("", "Some error message with a link here {0}.");

then in your view call your validation summary like so:

@string.Format(Html.ValidationSummary().ToString(), Html.ActionLink("Click Here", "Action_To_Link_To")).ToHtmlString()

In this case i have used an extension method I added to the string object .ToHtmlString() that basically just converts the string to an HtmlString preventing any of the markup being escaped. it looks like this:

public static HtmlString ToHtmlString(this String str)
{
    return new HtmlString(str);
}

Answer 2

Finally I chose another way to do it: create a div containing the link etc. outside of validation summary, and add the div only if modelstate is not valid:

@If Not ViewData.ModelState.IsValid Then
    @<div>read <a href="anotherpage.html">more</a></div>
End If

This is inspired by an answer to similar question.