Validate that an entered date is older than today's date

Question

I've got an Html.TextBoxFor element where a user can enter their birthdate. I want to make sure they only enter a date that is older than today's date. Here is the validation I have in my model:

[Required(ErrorMessage = "Birthdate is required")]
[RegularExpression(@"^(0[1-9]|1[0-2])\/(0[1-9]|1\d|2\d|3[01])\/(19|20)\d{2}$", ErrorMessage = "Please use MM/DD/YYYY")]
[DataType(DataType.Date)]
public System.DateTime Dob { get; set; }

and here is the relevant part of my view:

<td>
  @Html.Label("DOB:")
  @Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Driver.Dob, "{0:dd/MM/yyyy}")
  @Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.Driver.Dob)
</td>

Is there a built-in way offered by .net to do this?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 10 '13 at 20:11

Create your own custom attribute.

[DateValidation]
public System.DateTime Dob { get; set; }

public class DateValidationAttribute : ValidationAttribute {
  public override bool IsValid(object value) {
     DateTime dateValue;
     var date = DateTime.TryParse(value.toString(), out dateValue);
     // "var dateValue = (DateTime) value;" might work as well, let me know what does.
     return dateValue < DateTime.Now;
  }
}

Important: the name of the attribute class should end with Attribute.

I tried both ways, keeping the same class and method name from your example, but when I enter a date like "10/01/2014", it doesn't catch it. — SantasNotReal, Oct 10 '13 at 20:59

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:57

You could try to use IValidatableObject...

So then:

public class MyViewModel : IValidatableObject
{
    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Birthdate is required")]
    [DataType(DataType.Date)]
    public System.DateTime Dob { get; set; }

    public IEnumerable<ValidationResult> Validate(ValidationContext validationContext)
    {
        if(Dob >= DateTime.Today)
            yield return new ValidationResult("Dob date should be set in the past", new [] { "Dob" });
    }
}

Then just calling ModelState.IsValid in the controller worked just fine for me so far, but if you experience any problems with it, there are other answers that tackle that problem

Admittedly, in such a simple case it might be better and easier to create your own attribute per Jeroen's answer, but if you need any further and/or more complicated logic that may even involve other class members, then IValidatableObject is the built-in way to go.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 11 '13 at 10:37

If you're ok with using JQuery DatePicker, follow this link, change

@Html.TextBox("",  String.Format("{0:yyyy-MM-dd}", Model.HasValue ? Model : DateTime.Today), new { @class = "dp", @readonly = "readonly"})

<script type='text/javascript'>

$(document).ready(function () {   
            $(".dp").datepicker({
                maxDate: new Date,
                dateFormat: 'dd/M/yy',
                changeYear: true,
                changeMonth: true
            });
});

</script>

Validate that an entered date is older than today's date

3 Answers3