MultiValidationBehavior

The MultiValidationBehavior is a Behavior that allows the user to combine multiple validators to validate text input depending on specified parameters. For example, an Entry control can be styled differently depending on whether a valid or an invalid text input is provided. By allowing the user to chain multiple existing validators together, it offers a high degree of customization when it comes to validation.

Important

The .NET MAUI Community Toolkit Behaviors do not set the BindingContext of a behavior, because behaviors can be shared and applied to multiple controls through styles. For more information refer to .NET MAUI Behaviors

Syntax

The following examples show how to add the MultiValidationBehavior to an Entry and include 4 different validation behaviors to enforce a password policy.

XAML

Including the XAML namespace

In order to use the toolkit in XAML the following xmlns needs to be added into your page or view:

xmlns:toolkit="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2022/maui/toolkit"

Therefore the following:

<ContentPage
    x:Class="CommunityToolkit.Maui.Sample.Pages.MyPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2021/maui"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml">

</ContentPage>

Would be modified to include the xmlns as follows:

<ContentPage
    x:Class="CommunityToolkit.Maui.Sample.Pages.MyPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2021/maui"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
    xmlns:toolkit="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2022/maui/toolkit">

</ContentPage>

Using the MultiValidationBehavior

The MultiValidationBehavior can be used as follows in XAML:

<ContentPage xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2021/maui"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
             xmlns:toolkit="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2022/maui/toolkit"
             x:Class="CommunityToolkit.Maui.Sample.Pages.Behaviors.MultiValidationBehaviorPage">

    <ContentPage.Resources>
        <Style x:Key="InvalidEntryStyle" TargetType="Entry">
            <Setter Property="TextColor" Value="Red" />
        </Style>
        <Style x:Key="ValidEntryStyle" TargetType="Entry">
            <Setter Property="TextColor" Value="Green" />
        </Style>
    </ContentPage.Resources>

    <Entry 
        IsPassword="True"
        Placeholder="Password">

        <Entry.Behaviors>
            <toolkit:MultiValidationBehavior 
                InvalidStyle="{StaticResource InvalidEntryStyle}"  
                ValidStyle="{StaticResource ValidEntryStyle}"
                Flags="ValidateOnValueChanged">

                <toolkit:CharactersValidationBehavior 
                    x:Name="DigitValidation" 
                    CharacterType="Digit" 
                    MinimumCharacterTypeCount="1" 
                    toolkit:MultiValidationBehavior.Error="1 digit" 
                    RegexPattern="" />

                <toolkit:CharactersValidationBehavior 
                    x:Name="UpperValidation" 
                    CharacterType="UppercaseLetter" 
                    MinimumCharacterTypeCount="1" 
                    toolkit:MultiValidationBehavior.Error="1 upper case" 
                    RegexPattern="" />

                <toolkit:CharactersValidationBehavior 
                    x:Name="SymbolValidation" 
                    CharacterType="NonAlphanumericSymbol" 
                    MinimumCharacterTypeCount="1" 
                    toolkit:MultiValidationBehavior.Error="1 symbol" 
                    RegexPattern=""  />

                <toolkit:CharactersValidationBehavior 
                    x:Name="AnyValidation" 
                    CharacterType="Any" 
                    MinimumCharacterTypeCount="8" 
                    toolkit:MultiValidationBehavior.Error="8 characters" 
                    RegexPattern="" />
            </toolkit:MultiValidationBehavior>
        </Entry.Behaviors>
    </Entry>

</ContentPage>

C#

The MultiValidationBehavior can be used as follows in C#:

class MultiValidationBehaviorPage : ContentPage
{
    public MultiValidationBehaviorPage()
    {
        var entry = new Entry
        {
            IsPassword = true,
            Placeholder = "Password"
        };

        var validStyle = new Style(typeof(Entry));
        validStyle.Setters.Add(new Setter
        {
            Property = Entry.TextColorProperty,
            Value = Colors.Green
        });

        var invalidStyle = new Style(typeof(Entry));
        invalidStyle.Setters.Add(new Setter
        {
            Property = Entry.TextColorProperty,
            Value = Colors.Red
        });

        var atLeastOneDigit = new CharactersValidationBehavior
        {
            Flags = ValidationFlags.ValidateOnValueChanged,
            CharacterType = CharacterType.Digit,
            MinimumCharacterCount = 1    
        };

        MultiValidationBehavior.SetError(atLeastOneDigit, "1 digit");

        var atLeastUpperCase = new CharactersValidationBehavior
        {
            Flags = ValidationFlags.ValidateOnValueChanged,
            CharacterType = CharacterType.UppercaseLetter,
            MinimumCharacterCount = 1    
        };

        MultiValidationBehavior.SetError(atLeastUpperCase, "1 upper case");

        var atLeastOneSymbol = new CharactersValidationBehavior
        {
            Flags = ValidationFlags.ValidateOnValueChanged,
            CharacterType = CharacterType.NonAlphanumericSymbol,
            MinimumCharacterCount = 1    
        };

        MultiValidationBehavior.SetError(atLeastOneSymbol, "1 symbol");

        var atLeastEightCharacters = new CharactersValidationBehavior
        {
            Flags = ValidationFlags.ValidateOnValueChanged,
            CharacterType = CharacterType.Any,
            MinimumCharacterCount = 1    
        };

        MultiValidationBehavior.SetError(atLeastEightCharacters, "8 characters");

        var multiValidationBehavior = new MultiValidationBehavior
        {
            InvalidStyle = invalidStyle,
            ValidStyle = validStyle,
            Flags = ValidationFlags.ValidateOnValueChanged,

            Children = 
            {
                atLeastOneDigit,
                atLeastUpperCase,
                atLeastOneSymbol,
                atLeastEightCharacters
            }
        };

        entry.Behaviors.Add(multiValidationBehavior);

        Content = entry;
    }
}

C# Markup

Our CommunityToolkit.Maui.Markup package provides a much more concise way to use this Behavior in C#.

using CommunityToolkit.Maui.Markup;

class MultiValidationBehaviorPage : ContentPage
{
    public MultiValidationBehaviorPage()
    {
        Content = new Entry()
            .Behaviors(new MultiValidationBehavior
            {
                InvalidStyle = new Style<Entry>(Entry.TextColorProperty, Colors.Red),
                ValidStyle = new Style<Entry>(Entry.TextColorProperty, Colors.Green),
                Flags = ValidationFlags.ValidateOnValueChanged,

                Children = 
                {
                    new CharactersValidationBehavior
                    {
                        Flags = ValidationFlags.ValidateOnValueChanged,
                        CharacterType = CharacterType.Digit,
                        MinimumCharacterCount = 1    
                    }
                    .Assign(out var atLeastOneDigit),

                    new CharactersValidationBehavior
                    {
                        Flags = ValidationFlags.ValidateOnValueChanged,
                        CharacterType = CharacterType.UppercaseLetter,
                        MinimumCharacterCount = 1    
                    }
                    .Assign(out var atLeastUpperCase),

                    new CharactersValidationBehavior
                    {
                        Flags = ValidationFlags.ValidateOnValueChanged,
                        CharacterType = CharacterType.NonAlphanumericSymbol,
                        MinimumCharacterCount = 1    
                    }
                    .Assign(out var atLeastOneSymbol),

                    new CharactersValidationBehavior
                    {
                        Flags = ValidationFlags.ValidateOnValueChanged,
                        CharacterType = CharacterType.Any,
                        MinimumCharacterCount = 8  
                    }
                    .Assign(out var atLeastEightCharacters),
                }
            });

        MultiValidationBehavior.SetError(atLeastOneDigit, "1 digit");
        MultiValidationBehavior.SetError(atLeastUpperCase, "1 upper case");
        MultiValidationBehavior.SetError(atLeastOneSymbol, "1 symbol");
        MultiValidationBehavior.SetError(atLeastEightCharacters, "8 characters");
    }
}

The following screenshot shows the resulting MultiValidationBehavior on Android:

Properties

The MultiValidationBehavior provides the common validation properties as below.

ValidationBehavior Properties

The following properties are implemented in the base class, public abstract class ValidationBehavior:

Property	Type	Description
Flags	ValidationFlags	Provides an enumerated value that specifies how to handle validation.
ForceValidateCommand	ICommand	Allows the user to provide a custom ICommand that handles forcing validation.
InvalidStyle	Style	The Style to apply to the element when validation fails.
IsNotValid	bool	Indicates whether or not the current value is considered not valid.
IsRunning	bool	Indicates whether or not the validation is in progress now (waiting for an asynchronous call is finished).
IsValid	bool	Indicates whether or not the current value is considered valid.
ValidStyle	Style	The Style to apply to the element when validation is successful.
Value	object	The value to validate.
ValuePropertyName	string	Allows the user to override the property that will be used as the value to validate.

Examples

You can find an example of this behavior in action in the .NET MAUI Community Toolkit Sample Application.

API

You can find the source code for MultiValidationBehavior over on the .NET MAUI Community Toolkit GitHub repository.