IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider is called only for EmailAddressAttribute

Question

What I was doing with ASP.NET MVC 5

DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(MaxLengthAttribute), typeof(MyMaxLengthAttributeAdapter));
DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(RequiredAttribute), typeof(MyRequiredAttributeAdapter));
DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(MinLengthAttribute), typeof(MyMinLengthAttribute));
DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider.RegisterAdapter(typeof(EmailAddressAttribute), typeof(MyEmailAddressAttributeAdapter));

Now I'm migrating it to ASP.NET core 6

We can't use DataAnnotationsModelValidatorProvider anymore so I'm trying to use IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider, which doesn't work properly for me.

My codes

My IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider is below.

public class MyValidationAttributeAdapterProvider : ValidationAttributeAdapterProvider, IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider
{
    IAttributeAdapter? IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider.GetAttributeAdapter(
        ValidationAttribute attribute,
        IStringLocalizer? stringLocalizer)
    {
        return attribute switch
        {
            EmailAddressAttribute => new MyEmailAddressAttributeAdapter((EmailAddressAttribute)attribute, stringLocalizer),
            MaxLengthAttribute => new MyMaxLengthAttributeAdapter((MaxLengthAttribute)attribute, stringLocalizer),
            MinLengthAttribute => new MyMinLengthAttribute((MinLengthAttribute)attribute, stringLocalizer),
            RequiredAttribute => new MyRequiredAttributeAdapter((RequiredAttribute)attribute, stringLocalizer),
            _ => base.GetAttributeAdapter(attribute, stringLocalizer),
        };
    }
}

My model class is below.

public class LogInRequestDTO
{
    [Required]
    [EmailAddress]
    [MaxLength(FieldLengths.Max.User.Mail)]
    [Display(Name = "mail")]
    public string? Mail { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [MinLengthAttribute(FieldLengths.Min.User.Password)]
    [DataType(DataType.Password)]
    [Display(Name = "password")]
    public string? Password { get; set; }
}

And in my Program.cs, I do like below.

builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews()
    .AddDataAnnotationsLocalization(options =>
    {
        options.DataAnnotationLocalizerProvider = (type, factory) => factory.Create(typeof(Resources));
    });

builder.Services.AddSingleton<IValidationAttributeAdapterProvider, MyValidationAttributeAdapterProvider>();

What happed to me

I expect GetAttributeAdapter is called for each attribute like EmailAddressAttribute, MaxLengthAttribute, etc. But it's called only once with EmailAddressAttribute. So, all other validation results are not customized by my adaptors.

If I remove [EmailAddress] from the model class, GetAttributeAdapter is never called.

Am I missing something?

Added on 2022/05/24

What I want to do

• I want to customize all the validation error message.
• I don't want to customize for one by one at the place I use [EmailAddress] for example.
• I need the server side validation only. I don't need the client side validation.

Reproducible project

I created the minimum sample project which can reproduce the problem. https://github.com/KuniyoshiKamimura/IValidationAttributeAdapterProviderSample

1. Open the solution with Visual Studio 2022(17.2.1).
2. Set the breakpoint on MyValidationAttributeAdapterProvider.
3. Run the project.
4. Input something to the textbox on the browser and submit it.
5. The breakpoint hits only once with EmailAddressAttribute attribute.
6. The browser shows the customized message for email and default message for all other validations.

Answer 1

Below is a work demo, you can refer to it.

In all AttributeAdapter, change your code like below.

public class MyEmailAddressAttributeAdapter : AttributeAdapterBase<EmailAddressAttribute>
    {
        // This is called as expected.
        public MyEmailAddressAttributeAdapter(EmailAddressAttribute attribute, IStringLocalizer? stringLocalizer)
           : base(attribute, stringLocalizer)
        {
            //attribute.ErrorMessageResourceType = typeof(Resources);
            //attribute.ErrorMessageResourceName = "ValidationMessageForEmailAddress";
            //attribute.ErrorMessage = null;
        }

        public override void AddValidation(ClientModelValidationContext context)
        {
            if (context == null)
            {
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(context));
            }

            MergeAttribute(context.Attributes, "data-val", "true");
            MergeAttribute(context.Attributes, "data-val-must-be-true", GetErrorMessage(context));
        }

        // This is called as expected.
        // And I can see the message "Input the valid mail address.".
        public override string GetErrorMessage(ModelValidationContextBase validationContext)
        {
            return GetErrorMessage(validationContext.ModelMetadata, validationContext.ModelMetadata.GetDisplayName());
        }
    }

In homecontroller:

public IActionResult Index()
    {
        return View();
    }
    [HttpPost]
    public IActionResult Index([FromForm][Bind("Test")] SampleDTO dto)
    {
        return View();
    }

Index view:

@model IV2.Models.SampleDTO

@{
    ViewData["Title"] = "Index";
}

<h1>Index</h1>

<h4>SampleDTO</h4>
<hr />
<div class="row">
    <div class="col-md-4">
        <form asp-action="Index">
           <div asp-validation-summary="ModelOnly" class="text-danger"></div>
            <div class="form-group">
                <label asp-for="Test" class="control-label"></label>
                <input asp-for="Test" class="form-control" />
                <span asp-validation-for="Test" class="text-danger"></span>
            </div>
            <div class="form-group">
                <input type="submit" value="Create" class="btn btn-primary" />
            </div>
        </form>
    </div>
</div>

<div>
    <a asp-action="Index">Back to List</a>
</div>

@section Scripts {
    @{await Html.RenderPartialAsync("_ValidationScriptsPartial");}
}

Result1:

Result2:

Answer 2

I found the solution.

What I have to use is not ValidationAttributeAdapterProvider but IValidationMetadataProvider.

This article describes the usage in detail. Note that some attributes including EmailAddressAttribute have to be treated in special way as describe here because they have default non-null ErrorMessage.

I confirmed for EmailAddressAttribute and some other attributes.

Also, there's the related article here.