Calendar Custom Validator

Can someone suggest how to implement a custom validator for a Web Forms Calendar control? Apparently, neither RequiredValidator nor CustomValidator work out of the box with the Calendar control.

One solution offered by Microsoft is to extend the Calendar:

How to extend a Web form control to work with the validation controls by using Visual C#

Is there not a simpler solution?

Answers:

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Method 1

I finally got it to work this way:

<asp:Calendar ID="startCalendar" CssClass="startDate" 
    OnSelectionChanged="Selection_Changed" runat="server"></asp:Calendar>
<asp:CustomValidator ID="dateCustVal" OnServerValidate="DateCustVal_Validate" 
    runat="server"></asp:CustomValidator>

protected void DateCustVal_Validate(object source, ServerValidateEventArgs args)
{            
    if (startCalendar.SelectedDate == null 
        || startCalendar.SelectedDate == new DateTime(0001, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0))
    {
        args.IsValid = false;
    }
    else
    {
        args.IsValid = true;
    }
}

Method 2

I think you should use Ajax Control Toolkit (downloadale from: http://www.asp.net/ajaxlibrary/AjaxControlToolkitSampleSite/)
Then you can format your calendar as you want. An example is like this:

<ajaxToolkit:Calendar runat="server"
TargetControlID="Date1"
CssClass="ClassName"
Format="MMMM d, yyyy"
PopupButtonID="Image1" />

If you need to make sure that a date has been chosen, then you can do the following:

<ajaxToolkit:ValidatorCalloutExtender 
runat="Server"
ID="PNReqE"
TargetControlID="Date1" 
Width="350px"
HighlightCssClass="highlight" 
CssClass="CustomValidatorCalloutStyle"
PopupPosition="Right"
WarningIconImageUrl="warning.gif"
CloseImageUrl="close.gif" />

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