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AutoValidate Enum

Definition

Determines how a control validates its data when it loses user input focus.

C#
public enum AutoValidate
Inheritance
AutoValidate

Fields

Name Value Description
Inherit -1

The control inherits its AutoValidate behavior from its container (such as a form or another control). If there is no container control, it defaults to EnablePreventFocusChange.

Disable 0

Implicit validation will not occur. Setting this value will not interfere with explicit calls to Validate() or ValidateChildren().

EnablePreventFocusChange 1

Implicit validation occurs when the control loses focus.

EnableAllowFocusChange 2

Implicit validation occurs, but if validation fails, focus will still change to the new control. If validation fails, the Validated event will not fire.

Examples

The following code example turns off implicit validation for a form and all of its contained controls, and instead manually performs validation of all of the form's children when a mouse button is clicked.

C#
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;

namespace TestValidation
{
    class Form1 : Form
    {
        private static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Application.EnableVisualStyles();
            Application.Run(new Form1());
        }

        private TextBox firstNameBox, lastNameBox;
        private Button validateButton;
        private FlowLayoutPanel flowLayout1;

        private Form1()
        {
            this.Load += new EventHandler(Form1_Load);
        }

        void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Turn off validation when a control loses focus. This will be inherited by child
            // controls on the form, enabling us to validate the entire form when the 
            // button is clicked instead of one control at a time.
            this.AutoValidate = AutoValidate.Disable;

            flowLayout1 = new FlowLayoutPanel();
            flowLayout1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
            flowLayout1.Name = "flowLayout1";

            firstNameBox = new TextBox();
            firstNameBox.Name = "firstNameBox";
            firstNameBox.Size = new Size(75, firstNameBox.Size.Height);
            firstNameBox.CausesValidation = true;
            firstNameBox.Validating += new System.ComponentModel.CancelEventHandler(firstNameBox_Validating);
            flowLayout1.Controls.Add(firstNameBox);

            lastNameBox = new TextBox();
            lastNameBox.Name = "lastNameBox";
            lastNameBox.Size = new Size(75, lastNameBox.Size.Height);
            lastNameBox.CausesValidation = true;
            lastNameBox.Validating += new System.ComponentModel.CancelEventHandler(lastNameBox_Validating);
            flowLayout1.Controls.Add(lastNameBox);

            validateButton = new Button();
            validateButton.Text = "Validate";
            // validateButton.Location = new Point(170, 10);
            validateButton.Size = new Size(75, validateButton.Size.Height);
            validateButton.Click += new EventHandler(validateButton_Click);
            flowLayout1.Controls.Add(validateButton);

            this.Controls.Add(flowLayout1);

            this.Text = "Test Validation";
        }

        void firstNameBox_Validating(object sender, System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
        {
            if (firstNameBox.Text.Length == 0)
            {
                e.Cancel = true;
            }
            else
            {
                e.Cancel = false;
            }
        }

        void lastNameBox_Validating(object sender, System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
        {
            e.Cancel = false;
        }

        void validateButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (this.ValidateChildren())
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Validation succeeded!");
            }
            else
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Validation failed.");
            }
        }
    }
}

Remarks

If a user switches focus off of a Windows Forms control, the control will use AutoValidate to determine how to validate its data. This type of validation is called implicit validation, because it occurs without the application developer having to make an explicit call to Validate or ValidateChildren.

The property corresponding to this value will have different defaults based on the type of control. For more information, see User Input Validation in Windows Forms.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
Windows Desktop 3.0, 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

See also