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Implement Remote Validation in Grid

Environment

Product	Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC Grid
Product version	2025.1.227

Description

How can I implement remote validation when editing Grid data?

Solution

As of the Telerik UI R1 2017 SP1 release, you can use remote validation with the Grid HtmlHelper.

For a runnable example, refer to the demo on configuring remote validation in the Grid.

Remote validation is suitable for informing the user whether a value is valid right after the filed editor gets blurred. While you can consider the functionality as a real-time user assistant, avoid relying on it for receiving a valid entry for the field. Only the popup and inline edit modes support remote validation.

Procedure

To start using the remote validation in the Grid:

Add a custom rule in the built-in Kendo UI Validator. The one demonstrated in the following example is expected to work in most scenarios. However, you may need to adjust it to fit your specific requirements.

(function ($, kendo) {
    $.extend(true, kendo.ui.validator, {
        rules: {
            remote: function (input) {
                if (input.val() == "" || !input.attr("data-val-remote-url")) {
                    return true;
                }

                if (input.attr("data-val-remote-recieved")) {
                    input.attr("data-val-remote-recieved", "");
                    return !(input.attr("data-val-remote"));
                }

                var url = input.attr("data-val-remote-url");
                var postData = {};
                var addFields = input.attr("data-val-remote-additionalfields").replace(/\*./g, "").split(",");
                $.each(addFields, function (index, val) {
                    postData[val] = $("input[name='" + val + "']").val();
                });

                var validator = this;
                var currentInput = input;
                input.attr("data-val-remote-requested", true);
                $.ajax({
                    url: url,
                    type: "POST",
                    data: JSON.stringify(postData),
                    dataType: "json",
                    traditional: true,
                    contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
                    success: function (data) {
                        if (data == true) {
                            input.attr("data-val-remote", "");
                        }
                        else {
                            input.attr("data-val-remote", data);
                        }
                        input.attr("data-val-remote-recieved", true);
                        validator.validateInput(currentInput);

                    },
                    error: function () {
                        input.attr("data-val-remote-recieved", true);
                        validator.validateInput(currentInput);
                    }
                });
                return true;
            }
        },
        messages: {
            remote: function (input) {
                return input.attr("data-val-remote");
            }
        }
    });
})(jQuery, kendo);

Add the RemoteAttribute to the Model field to configure the validation on the server. The following example demonstrates how to apply this configuration to the ProductName field.

    [Required]
    [DisplayName("Product name")]
    [Remote("IsProductName_Available", "Validation")]
    public string ProductName
    {
        get;
        set;
    }

Add the custom server-side logic that will validate the user input. The RemoteAttribute in the previous example specifies that the validation will be performed in a IsProductName_Available method located in ValidationController. This is a custom approach and has to be implemented per case. In the following example, the code checks whether the entered ProductName already exists.

public JsonResult IsProductName_Available(string ProductName)
{
    var northwind = new SampleEntities();
    Product existingProduct = northwind.Products.FirstOrDefault(product => product.ProductName == ProductName);
    if (existingProduct == null)
    {
        return Json(true, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }

    string suggestedName = String.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
        "{0} is not available.", ProductName);

    for (int i = 1; i < 100; i++)
    {
        string altName = ProductName + i.ToString();
        if (northwind.Products.FirstOrDefault(product => product.ProductName == altName) == null)
        {
            suggestedName = String.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
            "{0} is not available. Try {1}.", ProductName, altName);
            break;
        }
    }
    return Json(suggestedName, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}

Known Limitations

The batch (InCell) edit mode does not support remote validation. The reason for that is that in the InCell edit mode, the handling of the input element's blur event closes the cell for editing. On the other hand, the remote validation is an asynchronous operation, which means that the cell will be closed before the response.
If the user blurs the field editor by using remote validation in the PopUp or InLine edit mode and then clicks on the Update button before the response from the remote validation arrives, the update or create operation will be performed with an invalid value. To ensure a valid entry, include the remote validation rule in the server validation.