error message is not displayed in validation summary - asp.net

Question

I have a following code on my web page.
table>
<tr>
<td class="style2"> <asp:ValidationSummary
ID="ValidationSummary1"
runat="server"
HeaderText="Following error occurs....."
ShowMessageBox="false"
DisplayMode="BulletList"
ShowSummary="true"
BackColor="Snow"
Width="200"
ForeColor="Red"
Font-Size="X-Large"
Font-Italic="true" EnableClientScript="true" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" class="style2">
Test1 :
<asp:DropDownList ID="ddlTest1" runat="server">
</asp:DropDownList>
<asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="ReqTest1" runat="server" ControlToValidate="ddlTest1" InitialValue="Please Select" ErrorMessage="Please Select Test1"></asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<asp:DropDownList ID="ddlLocation" runat="server">
</asp:DropDownList>
<asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="ReqLocation" runat="server" ControlToValidate="ddlLocation" InitialValue="Please Select" ErrorMessage="Please select a Location"></asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
</td>
</tr>
I am not getting any error message when I am clicking on submit button without selecting any dropdowns value. My dropdown code is
Private Sub Test1()
ddlTest.DataSource = ' called the class to bid the drop down
ddlTest.DataTextField = "Test"
ddlTest.DataValueField = "Testid"
ddlTest.DataBind()
ddlTest.Items.Insert(0, New ListItem("Please Select", 0))
End Sub
Public Sub LoadLocation()
' ddlLocation.DataSource = ' called the class to bid the drop down
ddlLocation.DataTextField = "location"
ddlLocation.DataValueField = "id"
ddlLocation.DataBind()
ddlLocation.Items.Insert(0, New ListItem("Please Select", 0))
End Sub
Any help will be appreciated. I cannot see any error message when I click on submit button and the control gets transferred to the code behind of submit button.

Answer 1

Dropdown validation is a little bit different. You need to have InitialValue set in validator to verify and error out for non-selection
<asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="ReqTest1" runat="server" InitialValue=0 ControlToValidate="ddlTest1" InitialValue="Please Select" ErrorMessage="Please Select Test1"></asp:RequiredFieldValidator>
InitialValue is whatever value of the list item appears by default in the drop down.
It is also important to check Page.IsValid in your button click event, before you process anything.