C#: Panel Won't (Un)Hide

[spamguy]

I have a panel that I want to act as an extension of ValidationSumma ry. Some fields are simply too complex for a RegEx to analyse, so I check them on a button click event and pass error messages to a Label contained in the aforementioned Panel.

Trouble is, the Panel doesn't unhide! A rougher alternative I tried, if (!IsPostBack), doesn't work either.

<form id="Form1" method="POST" action="" runat="server">
   <div style="width:100%">
      <asp:ValidationSummary ID="ValidationSummary1" CssClass="errorMessage" runat="server" ForeColor="Black" />
   </div>
   <div style="width:100%">
      <asp:Panel ID="customValidationSummary" runat="server" CssClass="errorMessage">
         <asp:Label ID="msg" runat="server" />
      </asp:Panel>
   </div>

protected void btnSubmit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    msg.Text = ValidateFields(); // currently set to do nothing but return an arbitrary nonempty string
 
    if (msg.Text == "")
    {
        // send data on its merry way
    }
    else
    {
        msg.Visible = true;
    }
} // end function

[spamguy]

In addition:

The Label inside the Panel doesn't seem to want to change, either. If I leave the Panel visible and tell the text to change to an arbitrary string on button click, it doesn't. Something's fishy, but I don't know what.

[Plater]

EDIT: Double Oops. Will have to get back to you...

An asp:panel maps back to an html DIV, do you need to nest them like that?

[spamguy]

EDIT: Double Oops. Will have to get back to you...

An asp:panel maps back to an html DIV, do you need to nest them like that?

<div> any thinner than 100% width centres differently from <span>. The only way I've found to centre a <div> is to nest them:

<div style="width:100%">
     <div style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto">Hi there</div>
</div>
 

[spamguy]

I think I figured out the source of the problem.

When there are validation controls in place, the page blocks a button click event when something isn't filled in right and pulls up a validation dialog using Javascript or somesuch. As long as there's a validation violation, there's no postback and no call of Button_Click() -- anything I put in the codebehind to check data myself won't get used.

So now the question becomes: can I circumvent this to have personalised validation and ASP validation controls report at the same time?