ValidationAide - "Easy as" javascript client side form validation!

You may or may not know, but DNAide includes a number of useful javascript library code. Typically, these are based on the brilliant jQuery library.

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of the built in .net 2.0 validation controls. I prefer something cleaner - so I wrote ValidationAide!

Please note, ValidationAide is not .NET 2.0 specific. It is purely client side coding and is not tied to .NET 2.0 development. It just so happens I've bundled it with DNAide. (There is a separate ValidationAide download available).

See the documentation and demos in action here!

Download the source from here.

So what does it do / what is it? Basically, it's a javascript client side form validation script based on jQuery and initially inspired by the great prototype based work found at Dexagogo. Field errors can be grouped and reported together (as an unordered list of hyperlinks to errored fields), or errors can be reported inline. In addition errored fields can have their css modified to reflect an error. You can even hook into pre and post validation events down to the field level to do your own magic!

Integrating client side form validation is as simple as adding a css class to a form element e.g.

<input type="text" id="FirstName" class="text validator-required" />

The above adds a "validator-required" class to the "FirstName" text box. "validator-required" is in fact the id of the validation rule that ValidationAide will check the field value against "on submit". The css class itself does not actually exist on any css style sheet. You can add multiple "validator classes" per field. ValidationAide will check through each one sequentially, returning a field error on the first rule failure.

ValidationAide itself comes with a number of pre-built rules such as required, email address etc. You can of course write your own.

Actions speak louder than words! So please feel free to have a look over the online demos and documentation I've posted here and let me know what you reckon!

For those of a .NET persuasion.
A fair question is how do I use this in my .NET project? Rather than using the .NET validation controls for client an server validation, I prefer to use ValidationAide for relatively simple client side validation e.g. checking mandatory fields are completed, email addresses / dates are of the correct format. Simple stuff. I then have a busness rules / controller object which acts as the project's "bouncer". This checks everything including more complex business rules / logic not handled by ValidationAide. I believe this pattern works very well. More informaiton can be found at http://www.codeplex.com/DNAide/Wiki/View.aspx?title=Validation&referringTitle=Home

Remember, if using ValidationAide in your .NET based website, you do not need to add the ValidationAide js into your website. You can simply use ScriptAide from your code behind e.g.

ScriptAide.CurrentContext.RegisterDNAideScriptResource(DNAideScriptResource.JQueryValidationAide);