Updated: August 2008
Causes all of the child controls within a control that support validation to validate their data.
<BrowsableAttribute(False)> _ Public Overridable Function ValidateChildren As Boolean
Dim instance As ContainerControl Dim returnValue As Boolean returnValue = instance.ValidateChildren()
[BrowsableAttribute(false)] public virtual bool ValidateChildren()
[BrowsableAttribute(false)] public: virtual bool ValidateChildren()
public function ValidateChildren() : boolean
ValidateChildren will descend a control's hierarchy and examine each control to see if it supports validation. If the control can be selected by the user and its CausesValidation property is true, ValidateChildren will cause the Validating event to occur. If any of the controls cancel the Validating event, this method will return false; otherwise, it will return true.
If a control is bound to a data source, and the Validating event occurs, it will cause the control to push its current data back to the data source.
Calling ValidateChildren is equivalent to calling ValidateChildren with a ValidationConstraints of None.
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.
Imports System Imports System.Drawing Imports System.Windows.Forms Public Class Form1 Inherits Form 'Entry point which delegates to C-style main Private Function Public Overloads Shared Sub Main() Main(System.Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()) End Sub Private Overloads Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String) Application.EnableVisualStyles() Application.Run(New Form1()) End Sub 'Main Private WithEvents FirstNameBox, LastNameBox As TextBox Private WithEvents ValidateButton As Button Private FlowLayout1 As FlowLayoutPanel Private Sub New() End Sub Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load ' 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. Me.AutoValidate = System.Windows.Forms.AutoValidate.Disable FlowLayout1 = New FlowLayoutPanel() FlowLayout1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill FirstNameBox = New TextBox() FirstNameBox.Name = "FirstNameBox" FirstNameBox.Location = New Point(10, 10) FirstNameBox.Size = New Size(75, FirstNameBox.Size.Height) FirstNameBox.CausesValidation = True FlowLayout1.Controls.Add(FirstNameBox) LastNameBox = New TextBox() LastNameBox.Name = "LastNameBox" LastNameBox.Location = New Point(90, 10) LastNameBox.Size = New Size(75, LastNameBox.Size.Height) LastNameBox.CausesValidation = True FlowLayout1.Controls.Add(LastNameBox) ValidateButton = New Button() ValidateButton.Text = "Validate" ValidateButton.Location = New Point(170, 10) ValidateButton.Size = New Size(75, ValidateButton.Size.Height) FlowLayout1.Controls.Add(ValidateButton) Me.Text = "Test Validation" Me.Controls.Add(FlowLayout1) End Sub Private Sub FirstNameBox_Validating(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) Handles FirstNameBox.Validating If FirstNameBox.Text.Length = 0 Then e.Cancel = True Else e.Cancel = False End If End Sub Private Sub LastNameBox_Validating(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) Handles LastNameBox.Validating e.Cancel = False End Sub Private Sub ValidateButton_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles ValidateButton.Click If ValidateChildren() Then MessageBox.Show("Validation succeeded!") Else MessageBox.Show("Validation failed.") End If End Sub End Class
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."); } } } }
Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98
Date
History
Reason
August 2008
Fixed reference so that code example appears.
Content bug fix.