Page_ClientValidate() object expected error, cant find the validator

Question

I have a form HomePage.aspx containing an empty asp:Panel, a dropdownlist letting the user pick an SPFielType... on index changed, my HomePage.aspx.cs page will get the text selected and will load a user control inside the panel, this user control will generate a control based on the spfieldtype chosen by the user and a button calling the validateForm() function... my problem is that the Page_ClientValidate() function inside the validateForm() cant find the validator, i also tried to give a groupname but still not working.
When Im putting the button inside my aspx page (not rendering dynamically) it is validating my page.( <asp:Button ID="submitbutton" Text="Validate" runat="server" />).
But when Im rendering it dynamically , cant validate the form..This is what Im trying to do:

protected override void CreateChildControls()
{
    try
    {
        fieldRenderingControl = this.CreateFieldRenderingControl(this.FieldType);
        this.Controls.Add(fieldRenderingControl);

        Button button = new Button();
        button.UseSubmitBehavior = false;
        button.Text = "ValidateButton";
        button.ID = "ValidateButton";
        button.OnClientClick = "validateForm()";
        this.Controls.Add(button);

        RequiredFieldValidator newValidator = new RequiredFieldValidator();
        newValidator.Text = "***";
        newValidator.ID = "valideee";
        newValidator.EnableClientScript = true;
        newValidator.Enabled = true;
        newValidator.SetFocusOnError = true;
        newValidator.Display = ValidatorDisplay.Dynamic;
        newValidator.ControlToValidate = fieldRenderingControl.ID;
        this.Controls.Add(newValidator);

    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
    }

}

// the CreateFieldRenderingControl() function will generate a control based on the argument fieldType chosen by the user.

thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Sharepoint has an ugly quirk where it can assign a Guid to be the id of a control. I've seen JavaScript that was generated by Sharepoint trying to use these Guids as variable names. This is no good - it breaks scripts - dashes aren't allowed in JavaScript variable names. I suspect this is the problem you are experiencing. And, I'd guess the culprit is this.CreateFieldRenderingControl(). It looks like that method is generating an Id... is that Id a Guid? If so, try to overwrite the Id with something safe, perhaps just remove the dashes from the Guid.

fieldRenderingControl.ID.Replace("-", "");

If this isn't the exact solution, hopefully it's enough to get you pointed in the right direction.