Data Annotation & Private members asp.net

Question

What is the best practice to add data annotation validators to private class members without having public set (If there is a way)

public class Employee{

//private fields

//constructors

   [Required(ErrorMessage = "Required field")]

   [DataType(DataType.Text, ErrorMessage = "Invalid input for firstname")]

   public string FirstName { get { return this.firstName; } }
}

Answer 1

In C#, a Property represents a private field with bound Get and/or Set methods. It does all the encapsulation for you, so what you are trying to solve is already done.

The code you wrote:

class Employee
{
  public string FirstName { get; set; }
}

What the compiler sees:

class Employee
{ 
  private string _firstName;

  public string GetFirstName()
  {
    return _firstName;
  }

  public void SetFirstName(string firstName)
  {
    _firstName = firstName;
  }
}