CustomValidator client script not firing

[tookool4school7]

I have a page where the user enters address data. They can select a country from a drop down list. Depending on what country is selected, the user enters their province/state by either a textbox or a drop down list.

If they select USA/Canada, a drop down list is populated with the states/provinces and made visible, while the state textbox is made invisible. If they select a country other than USA/Canada, the state drop down list is made invisible, and a state textbox is made visible. The first item in the drop down list is "select your state/province" with a value of "".

I want to use a custom validator to validate the user's state selection. I am working on my javascript validation script, and currently have no server-side validation. The problem is, if the user leaves the state unselected, or changes from a valid state selection to "select your state/province", the validation function never gets called.

here is my validator:

<asp:CustomValidator ID="cvState" runat="server" ClientValidationFunction="validateStateSelection" ErrorMessage="* Required" ControlToValidate="ddlCountry" ValidateEmptyText="True"></asp:CustomValidator></td>

here is my validation function:

function validateStateSelection(source, arguments)
{
    alert("client validation func called");
    alert(arguments.Value);
     	
    if(arguments.Value == null || arguments.Value == "")
    {
        arguments.IsValid = false;
        return;
    }
	
    arguments.IsValid = true;
}

[Ribeyed]

Hi,
you can have 2 different validation controls to validate the same control.
You can add a compare validator to the state control. Set your "select your state/province" with a zero or a high number you are sure the rest of the options don't have then set the value to compare to that number. Set the operator to NotEqual.