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RegularExpressionValidator.ValidationExpression Property

  • Reference

Definition

Namespace:
System.Web.UI.WebControls
Assembly:
System.Web.dll

Gets or sets the regular expression that determines the pattern used to validate a field.

public:
 property System::String ^ ValidationExpression { System::String ^ get(); void set(System::String ^ value); };
[System.ComponentModel.Bindable(true)]
public string ValidationExpression { get; set; }
[System.Web.UI.Themeable(false)]
public string ValidationExpression { get; set; }
[<System.ComponentModel.Bindable(true)>]
member this.ValidationExpression : string with get, set
[<System.Web.UI.Themeable(false)>]
member this.ValidationExpression : string with get, set
Public Property ValidationExpression As String

Property Value

String

A string that specifies the regular expression used to validate a field for format. The default is Empty.

Attributes
BindableAttribute ThemeableAttribute

Exceptions

HttpException

The regular expression is not properly formed.

Examples

The following example demonstrates how to use the ValidationExpression property to validate a field with five numeric digits. When the Button control is clicked, the resulting OnClick event handler checks the IsValid property of the Page to determine whether the text in the TextBox satisfies the regular expression.

Important

This example has a text box that accepts user input, which is a potential security threat. By default, ASP.NET Web pages validate that user input does not include script or HTML elements. For more information, see Script Exploits Overview.

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="True" %>

 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
 <head>
    <title>RegularExpressionValidator Example</title>
<script runat="server">
 
       void ValidateBtn_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) 
       {
          if (Page.IsValid) 
          {
             lblOutput.Text = "Page is Valid.";
          }
          else 
          {
             lblOutput.Text = "Page is InValid.";
          }
       }
 
    </script>

 </head>
 <body> 
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
 
    <h3>RegularExpressionValidator Example</h3>

       <table style="background-color:#eeeeee; padding:10">
          <tr valign="top">
             <td colspan="3">
                <asp:Label ID="lblOutput" 
                     Text="Enter a 5-digit ZIP Code" 
                     runat="server"
                     AssociatedControlID="TextBox1"/>
             </td>
          </tr>
 
          <tr>
             <td colspan="3">
                <b>Personal Information</b>
             </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
             <td align="right">
                Zip Code:
             </td>
             <td>
                <asp:TextBox id="TextBox1" 
                     runat="server"/>
             </td>
             <td>
                <asp:RegularExpressionValidator id="RegularExpressionValidator1" 
                     ControlToValidate="TextBox1"
                     ValidationExpression="\d{5}"
                     Display="Static"
                     ErrorMessage="ZIP code must be 5 numeric digits"
                     EnableClientScript="False" 
                     runat="server"/>
             </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
             <td></td>
             <td>
                <asp:Button text="Validate" 
                     OnClick="ValidateBtn_Click" 
                     runat="server" />
             </td>
             <td></td>
          </tr>
       </table>
 
    </form>
 </body>
 </html>

<%@ Page Language="VB" AutoEventWireup="True" %>

 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
 <head>
    <title>RegularExpressionValidator Example</title>
<script runat="server">
 
       Sub ValidateBtn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) 
       
          If Page.IsValid Then 
          
             lblOutput.Text = "Page is Valid."
          
          Else 
          
             lblOutput.Text = "Page is InValid."

          End If

       End Sub
 
    </script>
 
 </head>
 <body>
 
    <h3>RegularExpressionValidator Example</h3>
    <br />
 
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
 
       <table style="background-color:#eeeeee; padding:10">
          <tr valign="top">
             <td colspan="3">
                <asp:Label ID="lblOutput" 
                     Text="Enter a 5-digit ZIP Code" 
                     runat="server"
                     AssociatedControlID="TextBox1"/>
             </td>
          </tr>
 
          <tr>
             <td colspan="3">
                <b>Personal Information</b>
             </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
             <td align="right">
                Zip Code:
             </td>
             <td>
                <asp:TextBox id="TextBox1" 
                     runat="server"/>
             </td>
             <td>
                <asp:RegularExpressionValidator id="RegularExpressionValidator1" 
                     ControlToValidate="TextBox1"
                     ValidationExpression="\d{5}"
                     Display="Static"
                     ErrorMessage="Zip code must be 5 numeric digits"
                     EnableClientScript="False" 
                     runat="server"/>
             </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
             <td></td>
             <td>
                <asp:Button text="Validate" 
                     OnClick="ValidateBtn_Click" 
                     runat="server" />
             </td>
             <td></td>
          </tr>
       </table>
 
    </form>
 
 </body>
 </html>

Remarks

Use this property to specify the pattern used to check for predictable sequences of characters, such as those in social security numbers, email addresses, telephone numbers, and postal codes.

The RegularExpressionValidator does not perform validation on an empty string. If the string you are testing might be empty, use the RequiredFieldValidator as well as the RegularExpressionValidator.

For more information on regular expressions, see .NET Framework Regular Expressions.

Note

If you experience problems with pattern matching constructs, try wrapping the expression with "^(" and ")$". For example, "a|ab" becomes "^(a|ab)$".

This property cannot be set by themes or style sheet themes. For more information, see ThemeableAttribute and ASP.NET Themes and Skins.

Applies to