Web API - how to have custom display name for model validation properties?

Question

If I have an ApiController which has a post method which consumes a model which has data annotations for validation, how do I customize the name displayed for the validation errors? I don't really want to override the entire error message, but I do need the property in the error to be something other than the name of the property on the model type.

I've tried things like DisplayNameAttribute and DisplayAttribute, but those don't seem to apply for this.

Answer 1

The best solution I found for this was based on the following: https://gist.github.com/benfoster/4016852

You have to create your own validator provider (as shown in link), and your own validator which will set up a ValidationContext with the proper displayName such that

validationContext.DisplayName = displayNameMappingFunction(metadata.GetDisplayName());

You then need to register the validator provider globally by using GlobalConfiguration.Services, or you need to create an IControllerConfigurationAttribute which will configure it just for one controller.

You do config.Services.Replace(typeof(ModelValidatorProvider), new CustomDisplayNameProvider()