Validation of DropDownListFor is not working in MVC3?

Question

Validation is Working on Other Input type text element but not working on DropDownListFor

Class Purchase Input Property Code

[Required]
public string LedgerId { get; set; }

Class View Model Code

PurchaseViewModel purchaseVM = new PurchaseViewModel
{
    // PurchaseInput=purchaseInput,
    Ledger = uw.LedgerRepository.Get().Select(x => new SelectListItem { Value = x.Id.ToString(), Text = x.LedgerName }),
};

View

<div class="column">
    <div  class="labelField">
        @Html.LabelFor(model => model.PurchaseInput.LedgerId, "Party")
    </div>   
    <div class="ItemField">
        @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.PurchaseInput.LedgerId, new SelectList(Model.Ledger, "Value", "Text"))
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.PurchaseInput.LedgerId)
    </div>
</div>

Answer 1

On the face of it, it seems that you do not have an empty item in your select list. The validation will only trigger if the user selects a dropdown item with string length of zero. If you examine the Html source can you see the validation attributes on the dropdown ( depending on whether you are using unobtrusive validation or not)?

Answer 2

Yes, there are problems with validation of DropDownListFor. look at this link. They get validation data manually from metadata - http://forums.asp.net/t/1649193.aspx

Answer 3

Although this is a workaround, at least it fires some sort of validation. Try:

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.PurchaseInput.LedgerId, new SelectList(Model.Ledger, "Value", "Text"), new { @class = "required" })