We will show first the common properties of all the six
validations and then the other properties for each validator.
Common Properties for All Validation Controls
ControlToValidate: You can set the name of the control you
want to validate and the name of all controls will display in a list.
Display: The value is Static/Dynamic; it allows the text of the
error message displayed to move with the design if it is set as dynamic or
allocates the same position if it is set as static.
ErrorMessage: This is the message that will be displayed in
the ValidationSummary (discussed below).
Forecolor: Color of the text displayed. Most often it is
red.
SetFocusOnError: This is new in ASP.NET; it will set the
focus on the field control.
ValidationGroup: This is new in ASP.NET. The validation
group is a name you create for a collection of fields in a form. For example,
if you have 2 forms in a one page and you want the submit button of the first
form to validate its only fields, you set a common name for all the controls of
the first form including the validators. You set this name in the
validationgroup property in the validator and you also set it in the field
controls where they have a property called validationgroup.
RequiredFieldValidator
The required field validator is used for making the web form
field required. The most important property is IntialValue.
IntialValue: This is the value that the validator will
validate. The validator will make validation on the value you entered.
RangeValidator
The range validator use is to validate the data that is
entered if it is in the valid range you have set in the range validator. The
most important properties are the following.
CultureInVariantValues: This is set to check whether or not
to do culture invariant conversion against the string values' properties on the
validator.
Maximum value: This is the maximum value the control will
start validating.
Minimum value: This is the minimum value the control will
start validating.
Type: The data type for comparison is the Type. For example,
if you choose integer, the validator will check the values entered in the
control field if they are within the minimum and maximum ranges.
SetFocusOnError: This is new in ASP.NET; it will set the
focus on the field control.
ValidationGroup: This has the same description as above for
all validators.
RegularExpressionValidator
The regular expression validator is used to validate an
asp.net control to an expression the user specifies. The most popular example
is validating the email format of the field. The important properties are
below.
ValidationExperssion: This is the place where you choose the
standard expression you wish to use in your validation. You can custom your own
expression; we will talk about this in another article.
ControlToValidate: You can set the name of the control you
want to validate and the name of all controls will display in a list.
Display: the value is Static/Dynamic, it allows the text of
the error message displayed to move with the design if it is set as dynamic or
allocate the same position if it is set as static.
ErrorMessage: ErrorMessage is the message that will be
displayed in the ValidationSummary (discussed below).
Forecolor: Color of the text displayed and is most often
red.
SetFocusOnError: This is new in ASP.NET; it will set the
focus on the field control.
ValidationGroup: This has the same description as above for
all validators.
CompareValidator
The main two essential roles for the compare validator are
to compare the entry of 2 fields in a web form and to check datatype of the
data entered in the field. The important properties are below.
ControlToCompare: You can choose the ID of the control you
want to compare with the ID of the control you set in the ControlToValidate
property.
Operator: This is the type of comparison you want to use. For
example, the operator type could be equal, greater than, etc. You can also
choose the type DataTypeCheck if you wish to make validation on the datatype of
the data entered in the field.
Type: You can set in this property the datatype you want to
validate the data entered in the control, for example, an integer.
ValueToCompare: You can set in this property the value you
want to compare with the entered data in the control.
CustomValidator
The custom validator is used to create your validation
function and set to the custom validator. We will talk about it in an article of
creating the validation expressions.
ValidationSummary
The validation summary displays the list of all the messages
that you set in each validator when the validation fires. The most important
properties are the following.
Displaymode: The layout the messages that will display on is
the Displaymode.
ShowMessageBox: If set to true, a popup alert window will
open displaying all the validation messages of the control.
ShowSummary: If set to true, the validation messages will
display on the page.
Text: The message that will appear beside the field when
validated is the text.