How to: Implement Validation Logic on Custom Objects

This example shows how to implement validation logic on a custom object and then bind to it.

Example

You can provide validation logic on the business layer if your source object implements IDataErrorInfo, as in the following example:

public class Person : IDataErrorInfo
{
    private int age;

    public int Age
    {
        get { return age; }
        set { age = value; }
    }

    public string Error
    {
        get
        {
            return null;
        }
    }

    public string this[string name]
    {
        get
        {
            string result = null;

            if (name == "Age")
            {
                if (this.age < 0 || this.age > 150)
                {
                    result = "Age must not be less than 0 or greater than 150.";
                }
            }
            return result;
        }
    }
}

In the following example, the text property of the text box binds to the Age property of the Person object, which has been made available for binding through a resource declaration that is given the x:Key data. The DataErrorValidationRule checks for the validation errors raised by the IDataErrorInfo implementation.

<TextBox Style="{StaticResource textBoxInError}">
  <TextBox.Text>
    <Binding Path="Age" Source="{StaticResource data}"
             UpdateSourceTrigger="PropertyChanged">
      <Binding.ValidationRules>
        <!--DataErrorValidationRule checks for validation 
            errors raised by the IDataErrorInfo object
            Alternatively, you can set ValidatesOnDataErrors="True"
            on the Binding.-->
        <DataErrorValidationRule/>
      </Binding.ValidationRules>
    </Binding>
  </TextBox.Text>
</TextBox>

Alternatively, instead of using the DataErrorValidationRule, you can set the ValidatesOnDataErrors property to true.

For the complete sample, see Business Layer Validation Sample.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Implement Binding Validation

Reference

ExceptionValidationRule

Other Resources

Data Binding Samples

Data Binding How-to Topics