Disable unobtrusive validation on an ASP.NET MVC form

Question

I have two forms on a page. I want the first form to use unobtrusive validation, as it's since automatically generated by ASP.NET MVC Framework. There is a second form, however, which I wrote manually, that should not use unobtrusive validation.

Here's some code:

@using (Html.BeginForm("Add", "Contacts", FormMethod.Post, new { id = "AddForm" }))
{
    @Html.ValidationSummary(true)

    <fieldset>
        <legend>Datos Contacto</legend>
        <div class="editor-label">
            @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Name)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Name)
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Name)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-label">
            @Html.LabelFor(model => model.ContactDepartmentID)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.ContactDepartmentID, (List<SelectListItem>)ViewBag.ContactDepartments)
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ContactDepartmentID)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-label">
            @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Sex)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Sex, (List<SelectListItem>)ViewBag.Sexs)
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Sex)
        </div>
    </fieldset>
    <br />
    @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.SerializedEmails, new { data_bind = "value: ko.toJSON($root.emails())" })
    @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.SerializedPhones, new { data_bind = "value: ko.toJSON($root.phones())" })
}
<form id="phoneForm" >
<fieldset>
    <legend>Teléfonos</legend>
    <table class="table">
        <tbody data-bind="foreach: phones">
            <tr>
                <th>
                    Celular?
                </th>
                <th>
                    Phone
                </th>
                <th>
                    Extension
                </th>
                <th>
                </th>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <input type="checkbox" data-bind="checked: isMobile" />
                </td>
                <td>
                    <input class="phone" data-bind='value: phone'/>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <input type="text" class="extension" data-bind='value: phoneExtension, enable: !isMobile() ' />
                </td>
                <td>
                    <a href='#' data-bind='click: $root.removePhone'>Delete</a>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </tbody>
    </table>
    <a href='#' data-bind='click: $root.addPhone'>Agregar teléfono</a>
</fieldset>
</form>
<p>
    <button onclick="Submit();" type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-bind='enable: phones().length > 0 || emails().length > 0'>
        Create</button>
</p>

JS:

function Submit()
{      
  var valid = $('#AddForm').valid();     
  var valid2 =  $('#phoneForm').valid();     
}

jQuery.validator.addClassRules("phone", {
  required: true
});

As a side note: When I remove the unobtrusive validation from the page, the second form validates, but the first does not. If I use unobtrusive validation the first form validates, but the second form does not.

I know I can do the whole validation on the client side—and, if that's the only way, I will do it. I was thinking about a way to continue using unobtrusive validation, but allowing it to be conditionally disabled using e.g. custom attributes.

Answer 1

You can disable the unobtrusive validation from within the razor code via this Html Helper property:

HtmlHelper.ClientValidationEnabled = false;

That way you can have unobtrusive validation on and off for different forms according to this setting in their particular view/partial view.

Answer 2

You can mark the elements or find it all the input of the second form and remove the rules, this sample is for remove all rules of some controls in the form, this cause according with the user selected some options, the values required will be others. for this reason i store the rules to restore it later.

///Remove rules
$("input.rO,textarea.rO").each(function () {
   try
   {
      var rule = $(this).rules();
      if (rule) {
         $(this).data("rule", rule);
         $(this).rules("remove");
     }
  }
  catch(err){}
 });
 ///Restore rules
 $("input.rO.om" + v + ",textarea.rO.om"+v).each(function () {
      try
      {
        var rule = $(this).data("rule");
        if (rule)
           $(this).rules("add", rule);
      }
      catch(err){}
    });

Answer 3

If you remove unobtrusive-validation, then you are simply using the jQuery Validate plugin by itself.

If that's the case, then you must follow the documentation for the plugin. The .valid() method can only be used after the plugin is first initialized via the .validate() method. Also see: http://jqueryvalidation.org

However, there is no need to wrap anything inside of a submit function or handler. The plugin automatically captures the submit event if the plugin is properly initialized.

$(document).ready(function() {

    $('#myform').validate({
        // rules and options
    });

    jQuery.validator.addClassRules("phone", {
         required: true
    });

});

Simple DEMO: http://jsfiddle.net/DW4qE/