A Quick Fix for the Validator SetFocusOnError Bug
The ASP.NET validators have this nice property called “SetFocusOnError” that is supposed to set the focus to the first control that failed validation. This all works great until your validator control is inside a naming container. I ran into this recently when using validators in a DetailsView. Take this simple example:
Also see: SIGPLAN Workshop on Undergraduate Programming Language Curriculum
<%@ Page Language=”C#” %> <script runat=”server”> protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { if (!IsPostBack) DataBind(); } </script> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd”> <html xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml”> <head runat=”server”> <title></title> </head> <body> <form id=”_frm” runat=”server”> <asp:DetailsView ID=”dv1″ DefaultMode=”Edit” DataSource=’<%# new object[1] %>’ runat=”server” > <Fields> <asp:TemplateField HeaderText=”First Name:”> <EditItemTemplate> <asp:TextBox ID=”FirstNameTextBox” runat=”server” /> <asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID=”FirstNameValidator1″ ControlToValidate=”FirstNameTextBox” ErrorMessage=”First name is required.” Display=”Dynamic” EnableClientScript=”false” SetFocusOnError=”true” ValidationGroup=”bug” Text=”*” runat=”server” /> </EditItemTemplate> </asp:TemplateField> </Fields> <FooterTemplate> <asp:ValidationSummary ID=”vs1″ DisplayMode=”List” ValidationGroup=”bug” runat=”server” /> <asp:Button ID=”Button1″ Text=”Post Back” ValidationGroup=”bug” runat=”server” /> </FooterTemplate> </asp:DetailsView> </form> </body> </html>
If you run this page and do a view source you’ll see that the FirstNameTextBox gets rendered like this:
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(And, for those who already know how and are, in fact, using it, hopefully, they’ll see this and get off that plan.) 