Causes all of the child controls within a control that support validation to validate their data.
Assembly: System.Windows.Forms (in System.Windows.Forms.dll)
<BrowsableAttribute(False)> _
Public Overridable Function ValidateChildren ( _
validationConstraints As ValidationConstraints _
) As Boolean[BrowsableAttribute(false)]
public virtual bool ValidateChildren(
ValidationConstraints validationConstraints
)[BrowsableAttribute(false)]
public:
virtual bool ValidateChildren(
ValidationConstraints validationConstraints
)[<BrowsableAttribute(false)>]
abstract ValidateChildren :
validationConstraints:ValidationConstraints -> bool
[<BrowsableAttribute(false)>]
override ValidateChildren :
validationConstraints:ValidationConstraints -> bool Parameters
- validationConstraints
- Type: System.Windows.Forms
. . :: . ValidationConstraints
Places restrictions on which controls have their Validating event raised.
Return Value
Type: Systemtrue if all of the children validated successfully; otherwise, false. If called from the Validating or Validated event handlers, this method will always return false.
ValidateChildren will examine all the children of the current control, causing the Validating event to occur on a control if it meets the criteria spelled out by ValidationConstraints.
You may use several ValidationConstraints parameters at once by combining them with a bitwise OR operator. Combining parameters with a bitwise OR operator will result in a logical AND operation. For example, calling ValidateChildren(ValidationConstraints.ImmediateChildren | ValidationConstraints.Enabled) will only raise the Validating event on controls that are both immediate children of the container AND are enabled.
Regardless of which parameters you specify for this method, a control must have its CausesValidation property set to true in order for its Validating event to occur. You should also set the AutoValidate property of the control or of the control's container to false if you want validation to happen only when you call ValidateChildren, and not when the user shifts focus from the control.
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.
You cannot achieve the opposite effect of a ValidationConstraints parameter by applying a bitwise negation operator. For example, if you supply the negative value of the Visible field to ValidateChildren, it will not validate all children that are not visible on the container. Supplying any negative parameter to ValidateChildren will have no effect on the container or its children.
The following code example will only cause the Validating event to occur for immediate children of the form whose Enabled property is true.
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Namespace ValidateChildrenWithConstraints
_
Class Form1
Inherits Form
Public Overloads Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
Application.EnableVisualStyles()
Application.Run(New Form1())
End Sub
Private Sub New()
AddHandler Me.Load, AddressOf Form1_Load
End Sub
Dim WithEvents TextBox1, TextBox2, TextBox3 As TextBox
Dim FlowPanel1 As FlowLayoutPanel
Dim WithEvents SubTextBox1 As TextBox
Dim WithEvents Button1 As Button
Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' Create controls on form.
Me.Size = New Size(500, 300)
Me.AutoValidate = AutoValidate.Disable
TextBox1 = New TextBox()
TextBox1.Location = New Point(20, 20)
TextBox1.Size = New Size(75, TextBox1.Size.Height)
TextBox1.CausesValidation = True
Me.Controls.Add(TextBox1)
TextBox2 = New TextBox()
TextBox2.Location = New Point(105, 20)
TextBox2.Size = New Size(75, TextBox2.Size.Height)
TextBox2.CausesValidation = True
Me.Controls.Add(TextBox2)
TextBox3 = New TextBox()
TextBox3.Location = New Point(190, 20)
TextBox3.Size = New Size(75, TextBox3.Size.Height)
TextBox3.Enabled = False
TextBox3.CausesValidation = True
Me.Controls.Add(TextBox3)
Button1 = New Button()
Button1.Text = "Click"
Button1.Location = New Point(270, 20)
Me.Controls.Add(Button1)
FlowPanel1 = New FlowLayoutPanel()
FlowPanel1.Size = New Size(400, 100)
FlowPanel1.Dock = DockStyle.Bottom
SubTextBox1 = New TextBox()
SubTextBox1.CausesValidation = True
FlowPanel1.Controls.Add(SubTextBox1)
Me.Controls.Add(FlowPanel1)
End Sub 'Form1_Load
Sub SubTextBox1_Validating(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) Handles SubTextBox1.Validating
MessageBox.Show("SubTextBox1 Validating!")
End Sub 'SubTextBox1_Validating
Sub TextBox1_Validating(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) Handles TextBox1.Validating
MessageBox.Show("TextBox1 Validating!")
End Sub 'TextBox1_Validating
Sub TextBox2_Validating(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) Handles TextBox2.Validating
MessageBox.Show("TextBox2 Validating!")
End Sub 'TextBox2_Validating
Sub TextBox3_Validating(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) Handles TextBox3.Validating
MessageBox.Show("TextBox3 Validating!")
End Sub 'TextBox3_Validating
Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles button1.Click
Me.ValidateChildren((ValidationConstraints.ImmediateChildren Or ValidationConstraints.Enabled))
End Sub 'Button1_Click
End Class 'Form1
End Namespace 'ValidateChildrenWithConstraints
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace ValidateChildrenWithConstraints
{
class Form1 : Form
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.Run(new Form1());
}
private Form1()
{
this.Load += new EventHandler(Form1_Load);
}
void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Create controls on form.
TextBox textBox1, textBox2, textBox3;
FlowLayoutPanel flowPanel1;
TextBox subTextBox1;
Button button1;
this.Size = new Size(500, 300);
this.AutoValidate = AutoValidate.Disable;
textBox1 = new TextBox();
textBox1.Location = new Point(20, 20);
textBox1.Size = new Size(75, textBox1.Size.Height);
textBox1.CausesValidation = true;
textBox1.Validating += new System.ComponentModel.CancelEventHandler(textBox1_Validating);
this.Controls.Add(textBox1);
textBox2 = new TextBox();
textBox2.Location = new Point(105, 20);
textBox2.Size = new Size(75, textBox2.Size.Height);
textBox2.CausesValidation = true;
textBox2.Validating += new System.ComponentModel.CancelEventHandler(textBox2_Validating);
this.Controls.Add(textBox2);
textBox3 = new TextBox();
textBox3.Location = new Point(190, 20);
textBox3.Size = new Size(75, textBox3.Size.Height);
textBox3.Enabled = false;
textBox3.CausesValidation = true;
textBox3.Validating += new System.ComponentModel.CancelEventHandler(textBox3_Validating);
this.Controls.Add(textBox3);
button1 = new Button();
button1.Text = "Click";
button1.Location = new Point(270, 20);
button1.Click += new EventHandler(button1_Click);
this.Controls.Add(button1);
flowPanel1 = new FlowLayoutPanel();
flowPanel1.Size = new Size(400, 100);
flowPanel1.Dock = DockStyle.Bottom;
subTextBox1 = new TextBox();
subTextBox1.CausesValidation = true;
subTextBox1.Validating += new System.ComponentModel.CancelEventHandler(subTextBox1_Validating);
flowPanel1.Controls.Add(subTextBox1);
this.Controls.Add(flowPanel1);
}
void subTextBox1_Validating(object sender, System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("subTextBox1 Validating!");
}
void textBox1_Validating(object sender, System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("textBox1 Validating!");
}
void textBox2_Validating(object sender, System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("textBox2 Validating!");
}
void textBox3_Validating(object sender, System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("textBox3 Validating!");
}
void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.ValidateChildren(ValidationConstraints.ImmediateChildren | ValidationConstraints.Enabled);
}
}
}
Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2
The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.