Enterprise Library Validation Ruleset issue for nested objects

Question

I'm having a problem applying Rulesets when validating objects with nested objects when using Enterpirse Library validation. If I have the following objects

public class Person
{
    [ObjectValidator]
    [ObjectValidator(Ruleset = "A")]
    public Address Address  { get; set; }
}

public class Address  
{
    [StringLengthValidator(0, 32, MessageTemplate = "Invalid value '{0}' for {1}, Max length:{5}")]
    public string Address1 { get; set; }

    [StringLengthValidator(0, 32, MessageTemplate = "Invalid value '{0}' for {1}, Max length:{5}", Ruleset = "A")]
    public string Address2 { get; set; }
}

Now if I try to validate the object by calling

ValidationResults results = Validation.Validate(myPersonObject);

I get my default validation as expected, i.e if Person.Address.Address1 is too long it fires but Person.Address.Address2 is ignored, this is as expected.

However if I try to invoke my validation for Ruleset "A" as follows

ValidationResults results = Validation.Validate(myPersonObject, "A");

I always get the same results as the previous validate call despite the fact I have specified the Ruleset. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

So turns out I need to pass my Ruleset through in the constructor of the ObjectValidator attribute as well as specifying the Ruleset property to get my expected behaviour.

public class Person
{
    [ObjectValidator]
    [ObjectValidator("A", Ruleset = "A")]
    public Address Address  { get; set; }
}

public class Address  
{
    [StringLengthValidator(0, 32, MessageTemplate = "Invalid value '{0}' for {1}, Max length:{5}")]
    public string Address1 { get; set; }

    [StringLengthValidator(0, 32, MessageTemplate = "Invalid value '{0}' for {1}, Max length:{5}", Ruleset = "A")]
    public string Address2 { get; set; }
}

Basically the constructor argument is the target ruleset in the target object ("Address") while the Ruleset named parameter is what the ruleset is called on the current object ("Person").