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Regex evaluation failing using Data Annotations in MVC app.

I am trying to use Data Annotations and regex to validate an address field in a .net MVC application (to disallow the word 'suite' in any form).

I have the following definition in my annotations class:

    [MetadataType(typeof(LocationMetaData))]
    public partial class Location
    {

    }

    public class LocationMetaData
    {
        [RegularExpression(@"^(?:(?!\bsuite\b).)*$/ig", ErrorMessage = "Invalid Street1 format - Enter suite information in Street2")]
        public String street1 { get; set; }
    }

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...which should only match when the string does not contain 'suite'.

I am getting the failed error message no matter what I enter in the field.

I have tried these variations on the Regex:
^((?!suite).)*$/ig
/^((?!suite).)*$/ig
/^((?!\b(\w*suite\w*)\b).)*$/ig

These all work in online regex testers, but fail in my app.

Does anyone have a working solution for this?

Thanks.

Sailing_12

ASKER

I should point out that I have other regex validations in the LocationMetaData class that are working fine (phone, FAX, Zip) so all of the framework seems properly configured.

Terry Woods

Try:

 ^(?!.*suite)/ig

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Sailing_12

ASKER

That didn't work either.

Terry Woods

Apologies, I just noticed I only had one delimiter (the / character).

Try:

/^(?!.*suite)/ig

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or, if delimiters aren't needed, then this may work:

^(?!.*suite)

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but you would need to ensure that case insensitivity was activated.

Terry Woods

Sometimes when pattern delimiters aren't needed, you can still activate the case insensitive mode like this:

(?i)^(?!.*suite)

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Sailing_12

ASKER

These fail as well.

Sailing_12

ASKER

I don't think it's the pattern that is the problem here, I think it's how the expression is being processed as an annotation.

Terry Woods

Have you got some examples of how other fields are validated with regex?

Sailing_12

ASKER

Here is the full LocationMetaData class

    public class LocationMetaData
    {
        [RegularExpression(@"^([0-9]{3})-([0-9]{3})-([0-9]{4})$", ErrorMessage = "Invalid FAX number format")]
        public String locationFax { get; set; }

        [RegularExpression(@"^([0-9]{3})-([0-9]{3})-([0-9]{4})$", ErrorMessage = "Invalid Phone number format")]
        public String locationPhone { get; set; }

        [RegularExpression(@"^([0-9]{5})$", ErrorMessage = "Invalid Zip code format")]
        public String zip { get; set; }

        [RegularExpression(@"(?i)^(?!.*suite)", ErrorMessage = "Invalid Street1 format - Enter suite information in Street2")]
        public String street1 { get; set; }
    }

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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Terry Woods

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kaufmed

.NET regex doesn't use delimiters. If you want to include options, then you need to use the appropriate syntax:

[RegularExpression(@"(?ig)^(?:(?!\bsuite\b).)*$", ErrorMessage = "Invalid Street1 format - Enter suite information in Street2")]

https://www.regular-expressions.info/modifiers.html

Sailing_12

ASKER

Terry - that one works.

kaufmed - yours errors out when I run it - {"parsing \"(?ig)^(?:(?!\\bsuite\\b).)*$\" - Unrecognized grouping construct."}

kaufmed

Sorry, I forgot that "g" doesn't mean anything in .NET regex either. Regex searches are global if you use the correct method of the regex class; since the data annotation only uses the Match method, you wouldn't be doing a global search anyway.

[RegularExpression(@"(?i)^(?:(?!\bsuite\b).)*$", ErrorMessage = "Invalid Street1 format - Enter suite information in Street2")]

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In re-reading your question, that pattern won't do what you expect anyway. To match a string that doesn't contain "suite":

[RegularExpression(@"(?i)^(?!.*suite).*$", ErrorMessage = "Invalid Street1 format - Enter suite information in Street2")]

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Terry Woods

Glad to hear you got it solved... don't forget to accept the solution :-)