How can I modify LabelFor to display an asterisk on required fields?

C# Problem Overview

I want to create an extension method for HtmlHelper that allows me to create a LabelFor a property display an asterisk after it if it is a required field. How can I do that?

public class Foo
{
    [Required]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Html.LabelFor(o => o.Name) // Name*

C# Solutions

Solution 1 - C#

You can add an asterisk to a required field purely through CSS.

First, create a CSS class for it:

.required::after 
{
	content: "*";
	font-weight: bold;
	color: red;	
}

This will append a red asterisk to any element with the "required" class.

Then, in your view, simply add the new class to your label:

    @Html.LabelFor(m => m.Name, new { @class="required" })

Even better might be a custom HTML Helper that discerns if the field has a [Required] attribute, and if so, adds the required CSS class.

Solution 2 - C#

Here is an blog post that describes how to do this.

To give you a small example modified from the site above (note - I have not compiled/tested this):

namespace HelpRequest.Controllers.Helpers
{
   public static class LabelExtensions
    {
        public static MvcHtmlString Label(this HtmlHelper html, string expression, string id = "", bool generatedId = false)
        {
            return LabelHelper(html, ModelMetadata.FromStringExpression(expression, html.ViewData), expression, id, generatedId);
        }

        [SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design", "CA1006:DoNotNestGenericTypesInMemberSignatures", Justification = "This is an appropriate nesting of generic types")]
        public static MvcHtmlString LabelFor<TModel, TValue>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> html, Expression<Func<TModel, TValue>> expression, string id = "", bool generatedId = false)
        {
            return LabelHelper(html, ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, html.ViewData), ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression), id, generatedId);
        }

        internal static MvcHtmlString LabelHelper(HtmlHelper html, ModelMetadata metadata, string htmlFieldName, string id, bool generatedId)
        {
            string labelText = metadata.DisplayName ?? metadata.PropertyName ?? htmlFieldName.Split('.').Last();
            if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(labelText))
            {
                return MvcHtmlString.Empty;
            }
            var sb = new StringBuilder();
            sb.Append(labelText);
            if (metadata.IsRequired)
                sb.Append("*");

            var tag = new TagBuilder("label");
            if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(id))
            {
                tag.Attributes.Add("id", id);
            }
            else if (generatedId)
            {
                tag.Attributes.Add("id", html.ViewContext.ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldId(htmlFieldName) + "_Label");
            }

            tag.Attributes.Add("for", html.ViewContext.ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldId(htmlFieldName));
            tag.SetInnerText(sb.ToString());

            return MvcHtmlString.Create(tag.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal));
        }
    }
}

Solution 3 - C#

I did that way because my required fields must be dynamic (defined in a configuration file)

Add at the end of your View:

    <script type="text/javascript">
        $('input[type=text]').each(function () {
            var req = $(this).attr('data-val-required');
            if (undefined != req) {
                var label = $('label[for="' + $(this).attr('id') + '"]');
                var text = label.text();
                if (text.length > 0) {
                    label.append('<span style="color:red"> *</span>');
                }
            }
        });
    </script>

Solution 4 - C#

Here is my solution based on Adam Tuliper's answer but modified to work with Bootstrap and also allow the usage of custom attributes.

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.ComponentModel;


public static class RequiredLabel
{
	public static MvcHtmlString RequiredLabelFor<TModel, TValue>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> helper, Expression<Func<TModel, TValue>> expression, object htmlAttributes)
	{
		var metaData = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, helper.ViewData);

		string htmlFieldName = ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression);
		string labelText = metaData.DisplayName ?? metaData.PropertyName ?? htmlFieldName.Split('.').Last();

		if (metaData.IsRequired)
			labelText += "<span class=\"required\">*</span>";

		if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(labelText))
			return MvcHtmlString.Empty;

		var label = new TagBuilder("label");
		label.Attributes.Add("for", helper.ViewContext.ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldId(htmlFieldName));

		foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(htmlAttributes))
		{
			label.MergeAttribute(prop.Name.Replace('_', '-'), prop.GetValue(htmlAttributes).ToString(), true);
		}

		label.InnerHtml = labelText;
		return MvcHtmlString.Create(label.ToString());
	}

}

Then, I call it from my view like this:

@Html.RequiredLabelFor(model => model.Category, new { @class = "control-label col-md-3" })

P.S. Make sure you don't forget to include your namespace in your view.

Solution 5 - C#

see this post here - should contain most of what you need http://blogs.planetcloud.co.uk/mygreatdiscovery/post/Creating-tooltips-using-data-annotations-in-ASPNET-MVC.aspx

public static MvcHtmlString RequiredLabelFor<TModel, TValue>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> helper, Expression<Func<TModel, TValue>> expression)
{
    var metaData = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, helper.ViewData);

    string htmlFieldName = ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression);
    string labelText = metaData.DisplayName ?? metaData.PropertyName ?? htmlFieldName.Split('.').Last();

    if (metaData.IsRequired)
        labelText += "<span class=\"required-field\">*</span>";

    if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(labelText))
        return MvcHtmlString.Empty;

    var label = new TagBuilder("label");
    label.Attributes.Add("for", helper.ViewContext.ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldId(htmlFieldName));

    label.InnerHtml = labelText;
    return MvcHtmlString.Create(label.ToString());
}

Solution 6 - C#

Use helper to add style class to the label

public static MvcHtmlString RequiredLabelFor<TModel, TValue>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> html, Expression<Func<TModel, TValue>> expression, object htmlAttributes)
{
    var metadata = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, html.ViewData);
    var resolvedLabelText = metadata.DisplayName ?? metadata.PropertyName;
    if (!metadata.IsRequired)
    {
        return html.LabelFor(expression, resolvedLabelText, htmlAttributes);
    }

    var attributes = HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(htmlAttributes);
    if (attributes == null)
    {
        return html.LabelFor(expression, resolvedLabelText, htmlAttributes);
    }

    const string requiredClass = "required-label";
    if (attributes.ContainsKey("class"))
    {
        var classList = attributes["class"].ToString().Split(' ').ToList();
        classList.Add(requiredClass);
        attributes["class"] = string.Join(" ", classList);
    }
    else
    {
        attributes.Add("class", requiredClass);
    }

    return html.LabelFor(expression, resolvedLabelText, attributes);
}

Then you can style the class:

.required-label::after { content : "*" }

Solution 7 - C#

I hobbled this together from some other posts:

It works for me since the labelfor is followed by an input plus a span (the input the label is for, and the validation span)

input[data-val-required]+span:before {
  content: "*";
  font-weight: bold;
  color: red;
  position:relative;
  top:-34px;
  left:-12px;
  font-size:14pt;
}

Solution 8 - C#

Based on the above answer by Renato Saito along with the comments, as well as adding $(document).ready and checking to make sure that we are not adding more than one asterisks (I'm getting that on some of my fields for some reason), I have this:

// Add asterisks to required fields
$(document).ready(function() {
    $("[data-val-required]").each(function () {
       var label = $('label[for="' + $(this).attr("id") + '"]');
        var asterisksHtml = '<span style="color:red">&nbsp;*</span>';
        if (label.text().length > 0 && label.html().indexOf(asterisksHtml) === -1) {
            label.append(asterisksHtml);
        }
    });
});

Solution 9 - C#

Though this doesn't require modifying the LabelFor, it is the simplest I can think of which only requires 1 line in your ViewModel:

public class FooViewModel
{
   [Required(ErrorMessage = "Name is required")]
   [Display(Name ="Name*")]
   public string Name { get; set; }
}

Html.LabelFor(o => o.Name)

Solution 10 - C#

Best working for me in MVC with multiple field types

$('input[type=text], input[type=password], input[type=email], input[type=tel], select').each(function () {
    var req = $(this).attr('data-val-required');
    if (undefined != req) {
        var label = $('label[for="' + $(this).attr('name') + '"]');
        var text = label.text();
        if (text.length > 0) {
            label.append('<span style="color:red"> *</span>');
        }
    }
});

Solution 11 - C#

Add a decorated glyphicon icon after a mandatory field (defined via data annotation [Required]) using a helper extension preserving both internalizations/translations labels and html attributes

1. Create Folder "Helpers" and add a new controller "Helper.cs"

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Linq;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace WIPRO.Helpers
{
    public static class Helpers
    {
        public static MvcHtmlString LabelForRequired<TModel, TValue>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> helper, Expression<Func<TModel, TValue>> expression, string translatedlabelText, object htmlAttributes)
        {
            var metaData = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, helper.ViewData);

            string htmlFieldName = ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression);
            string labelText = metaData.DisplayName ?? metaData.PropertyName ?? htmlFieldName.Split('.').Last();

            if (metaData.IsRequired)
            {
                labelText = translatedlabelText + "<span class=\"required\" style=\"color:orange;\"> <span style=\"font-size: 0.4em; vertical-align: super;\" class=\"glyphicon glyphicon-asterisk\" data-unicode=\"270f\"></span></span>";

            }
            else
            {
                labelText = translatedlabelText;

            }

            if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(labelText))
                return MvcHtmlString.Empty;

            var label = new TagBuilder("label");
            label.Attributes.Add("for", helper.ViewContext.ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldId(htmlFieldName));

            foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(htmlAttributes))
            {
                label.MergeAttribute(prop.Name.Replace('_', '-'), prop.GetValue(htmlAttributes).ToString(), true);
            }

            label.InnerHtml = labelText;
            return MvcHtmlString.Create(label.ToString());

        }

    }

}

2. In your view

@using WIPRO.Helpers

        @Html.LabelForRequired(model => model.Test,"Translated text", htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })

in place of

        @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Test,"Translated text", htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })

Hope it helps ;-)

Solution 12 - C#

I wanted to create a Label that displayed an asterix when a property was required. But somehow the metadata.IsRequired property always returned false, even though the [Required] attribute was set and was working in the Model Validation. So I used the AssociatedMetadataTypeTypeDescriptionProvider

public static MvcHtmlString CustomLabelFor<TModel, TValue>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TValue>> expression, object htmlAttributes = null)
{
    ModelMetadata metadata = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, htmlHelper.ViewData);
    var descriptor = new AssociatedMetadataTypeTypeDescriptionProvider(metadata.ContainerType).GetTypeDescriptor(metadata.ContainerType).GetProperties().Find(metadata.PropertyName, true);
    var required = (new List<Attribute>(descriptor.Attributes.OfType<Attribute>())).OfType<RequiredAttribute>().FirstOrDefault();

    //get the normal labelfor
    var label = htmlHelper.LabelFor(expression, htmlAttributes);

    //create the extra span with the asterix in there is a required property
    if (required != null)
    {
        var span = new TagBuilder("span");
        span.MergeAttribute("class", "text-danger font-weight-bold");

        //render the span
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        sb.Append(span.ToString(TagRenderMode.StartTag));
        sb.Append("*");
        sb.Append(span.ToString(TagRenderMode.EndTag));

        return MvcHtmlString.Create(label.ToHtmlString() + " " + sb.ToString());
    }
    else
    {
        return label;
    }
}

Usage

@Html.CustomLabelFor(m => m.Title)

Solution 13 - C#

Post a general solution:

Here is a general format to use Bootstrap:

<div class="form-group row">
    <label class="col-md-3 label-control" asp-for="FacilityCode"></label>
    <div class="col-md-9">
        <input asp-for="FacilityCode" class="form-control" placeholder="@Localizer["Facility Code"]" />
        <span asp-validation-for="FacilityCode" class="text-danger"></span>
    </div>
</div>

Here is generated code by default TagHelper:

<div class="form-group row">
  <label class="col-md-3 label-control" for="FacilityCode">Example Label </label>
  <div class="col-md-9">
       <input class="form-control" placeholder="Facility Code" type="text" data-val="true" data-val-length="The field Institution (Community) must be a string with a maximum length of 5." data-val-length-max="5" data-val-required="The Institution (Community) field is required." id="FacilityCode" maxlength="5" name="FacilityCode" value="12345">
       <span class="text-danger field-validation-valid" data-valmsg-for="FacilityCode" data-valmsg-replace="true"></span>
  </div>
</div>

what I need is to append <span style="color:red;">*</span> to all required fields, instead of using TagHelper everywhere.

// append red star to required fields
$(document).ready(function () {
    $('input[data-val-required]')
        .closest(".form-group")
        .find("label.label-control")
        .append("<span style='color:red;'>*</span>");
});

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	BrunoLM	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - C#	Roger Rouse	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - C#	JasCav	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - C#	Renato Saito	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - C#	Maxime	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - C#	Adam Tuliper	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - C#	Daniel Bardi	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - C#	toddmo	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - C#	shlgug	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - C#	ricsierics	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - C#	Shakoor Hussain Attari	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 11 - C#	gvth	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 12 - C#	VDWWD	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 13 - C#	Dongdong	View Answer on Stackoverflow