Custom error message with DataAnnotationsExtensions - validation

Question

I'm trying to get Scott Kirkland's DataAnnotationsExtensions to work with my MVC4 project. But I'm having problems with the client side validation of an email address. I've added a EmailAddress annotation with a error message, but when I enter an invalid email address I do not get the custom error message, but instead I get the generic email error message "Please enter a valid RecipientEmail address.".
My class looks like this:
public class NpRequest
{
[DisplayName("Telefonnummer som skal overdrages")]
[Required(ErrorMessage = "Angiv telefonnummeret som skal overdrages")]
public string PhoneNumer { get; set; }
[DisplayName("Recipient email address")]
[EmailAddress(ErrorMessage = "This is my custom error message")]
[Required(ErrorMessage = "The recipient email address is required")]
public string RecipientEmail { get; set; }
public RecipientTypeEnum RecipientType { get; set; }
}
And my view:
---SNIPPET BEGIN---
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.PhoneNumer)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.PhoneNumer)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.PhoneNumer)
</div>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.RecipientEmail)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.RecipientEmail)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.RecipientEmail)
</div>
<p>
<input type="submit" value="Create" />
</p>
---SNIPPET END---
EDIT:
When I inspect the HTML it looks like this:
<input class="text-box single-line input-validation-error" data-val="true" data-val-email="This is my custom error message" data-val-required="The recipient email address is required" id="RecipientEmail" name="RecipientEmail" type="email" value="">
It seems that my custom error message is put into the data-val-email attribute. I was under the impression that the DataAnnotationExtension automatically added my custom error message to the ModelState and thereby also adding it to the field-validation-error span, which is showing the MVC validation error.
Is this assumption wrong? Should I write my own javascript, which extracts the custom error message attribute and injects it into the field-validation-error span?
Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

I ended up using a mix of System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations and DataAnnotationsExtensions. I found out out that most of the time data annotations will also make client side validation. The only time where is no client side validation, is when I check if the phone number is the correct length.
public class NpRequest
{
[DisplayName("Phone number")]
[MinLengthAttribute(8, ErrorMessage = "Phone number must be 8 digits")]
[MaxLengthAttribute(8, ErrorMessage = "Phone number must be 8 digits")]
[DigitsAttribute(ErrorMessage = "Phone number must be 8 digits")]
[Required(ErrorMessage = "Phone number is required")]
public string PhoneNumber { get; set; }
[DisplayName("Modtagers email adresse")]
[EmailAddressAttribute(ErrorMessage = "Invalid email")]
[Required(ErrorMessage = "Email is required")]
public string RecipientEmail { get; set; }
public RecipientTypeEnum RecipientType { get; set; }
}