Unobtrusive validation not working on dynamically-added partial view

Question

I am currently facing a problem with validation after dynamically adding content.

I have a view strongly typed to a model (Order). This Order can have many items. The model looks something like the following:

public class Order
{
    [Key]
    [HiddenInput]
    public int id { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Order Number")]
    public string number { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Order Date")]
    [DataType(DataType.Date)]
    [DisplayFormat(ApplyFormatInEditMode = true, DataFormatString = "{0:MM/dd/yyyy}")]
    public DateTime date { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Beneficiary is required.")]
    [Display(Name = "Beneficiary")]
    public int beneficiary_id { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Beneficiary")]
    public Beneficiary beneficiary { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Items")]
    public List<Item> items { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Payment Method")]
    public List<PaymentMethod> payment_methods { get; set; }
}

I enter the order information and also the items for that specific order. I tried a couple of ways to add content dynamically and finally went with Steven Sanderson's way.

In my view, I have the regular Order information and then the items, where my model looks something like this:

@model trackmeMvc.Models.Model.Order
@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Create";
    Html.EnableClientValidation();
    Html.EnableUnobtrusiveJavaScript();
}

<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>

<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/MicrosoftAjax.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/MicrosoftMvcAjax.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/MicrosoftMvcValidation.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>

@using (Html.BeginForm("Create", "Order", FormMethod.Post, new { @id = "create_order" }))
    {
    @Html.ValidationSummary(true, "Order creation was unsuccessful. Please correct the errors and try again.")

    <div class="editor-label">
        @Html.LabelFor(m => m.date)<req>*</req>
    </div>
    <div class="editor-field">
        @Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.date, new { @id = "order_date" })<br />
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.date)
    </div>

...

<script type="text/javascript">

    $(document).ready(function () {

        $("#addItem").click(function () {

            var formData = $("#main_div").closest("form").serializeArray();

            $.ajax({
                url: "/IPO/BlankItemRow",
                type: "POST",
                //data: formData,
                cache: false,
                success: function (html) {
                    $("#editorRows").append(html);
                        //$.validator.uobtrusive.parseDynamicContent("form *");
                        //$("#editorRows").removeData("validator");
                        //$("#editorRows").removeData("unobtrusiveValidation");
                        //$.validator.unobtrusive.parse("#editorRows");
                        //$.validator.unobtrusive.parse("#create_ipo");
                        //$.validator.unobtrusive.parseDynamicContent($(this).first().closest("form"));
                        //$.validator.unobtrusive.parse($("#new_ipo_item"));

                        //$.validator.unobtrusive.parseElement($("#editorRows").find(".editRow:last").children().find("select"));
                           //$("#editorRows").find(".editRow:last").find("select").each(function () {
                           //alert($(this).attr("id"));
                           //$.validator.unobtrusive.parseElement($(this));
                           //$.validator.unobtrusive.parseDynamicContent($(this));
                           //$.validator.unobtrusive.parseDynamicContent($(this).attr("name"));
                       //});
                           //$("#editorRows").children().find(".editRows:last").find("*").each(function () {
                           //  alert($(this).attr('id'));

                           //$.validator.unobtrusive.parseDynamicContent('input');
                       //});
                       //var form = $(this).closest("form").attr("id");
                       //$(form).removeData("validator");
                       //$(form).removeData("unobtrusiveValidation");
                       //$.validator.unobtrusive.parse(form);
                    }
                });
            return false;
        });
    });

</script>

Those are some of the things I tried, and nothing works.

I got the parseDynamicContent from Applying unobtrusive jquery validation to dynamic content in ASP.Net MVC. I tried it in every scenario I could think of, but still no luck.

I also tried the regular parse, removing validation from the form then applying it again, but still the newly added elements are not validated:

<div id="editorRows">
    @foreach (var item in Model.items)
    {
        @Html.Partial("_NewItem", item)
    }
</div>

... and my partial view would look something like this:

@model trackmeMvc.Models.Model.Item 

@{
    Layout = "";    
    Html.EnableClientValidation(true);

    if (this.ViewContext.FormContext == null)
    {
        this.ViewContext.FormContext = new FormContext();
    }
}

<div class="editRow">

@using (Html.BeginCollectionItem("order_items"))
{

    @Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.item_id, @items, "None", new { @style = "width:205px;", @id = "ddlItems", @class="ddlItem", @name="ddlItemList" })
    @Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.item_id)

    ...

}

</div>

So what's happening is, I have one empty item sent from the controller to the view by default, to show one empty row. That item is validated, but whatever comes after when I click add item, another row appears, from that partial, but I can't get it to validate. I tried to put the validation in the partial view, (before the document ready in the main form), and everything I read I applied, and it always ends up the same: validating the first row, and not the others. I tried the validation of Steven Sanderson done for that purpose - still no luck - even the validation for partials, found at this link and the page that follows which is specific to partial validation...

What should I do to get this validation working?

Answer 1

Ok, I am going to start over with a new answer here.

Before you call $.validator.unobtrusive.parse, remove the original validator and unobtrusive validation from the form like so:

var form = $("#main_div").closest("form");
form.removeData('validator');
form.removeData('unobtrusiveValidation');
$.validator.unobtrusive.parse(form);

This same answer is documented here.

Answer 2

What worked for me was to re-apply the validator after the call to load the partial view. In my case, I'm using $.post().then() but you could do something similar with a .always() callback of an AJAX call.

$.post(url, model, function (data) {
    //load the partial view
    $("#Partial").html(data);
}).then(function () {
    $("form").each(function () { $.data($(this)[0], 'validator', false); });
    $.validator.unobtrusive.parse("form");
});