selectOption Required only when Rendered

Question

I have a vf page with radiobuttons. This is rendered only when a condition satisfied. The radiobuttons need to be mandatory only when it is rendered. But the problem is even if the radio options are not visible, it gives the error - that radio option must be selected. Here is the code

<apex:outputPanel id="packageDelivery" rendered="{!IF(applicantInfo.Category__c=='Student (F)',True,False)}">                               
 <div class="form-row">
 <div class="form-label top"><strong>How should we send Package?<span class="required">*</span></strong></div>
 <div class="form-field">
      <apex:selectRadio id="Package_Delivery" value="{!selectedPackageDelivery}" required="true">
          <apex:selectOptions value="{!listPackageDelivery}" />
      </apex:selectRadio>
 </div>    
 </div>
</apex:outputPanel> 

I tried to change the required="true" to required="{!IF(applicantInfo.Category__c=='Student (F)',True,False)}" but it throws error which I cannot capture.

please help. how to make a field required only when it is rendered!

Answer 1

I chose an alternate way of making it required through apex code validations on Save, instead of checking it at the visualforce component.

Answer 2

VisualForce:

<apex:form > <apex:pageMessages /> <apex:commandButton action="{!Save}" value="Save" immediate="false" /> <apex:inputField value="{!dummy.Category__c}" required="true" /> <apex:outputPanel id="packageDelivery" rendered="{!IF(dummy.Category__c=='Student (F)',True,False)}"> <apex:selectRadio id="Package_Delivery" value="{!selOpt}" required="{!dummy.Category__c=='Student (F)'}"> <apex:selectOptions value="{!listPackageDelivery}" /> </apex:selectRadio> </apex:outputPanel> </apex:form>

'Category__c' is just a regular text field on my custom object. My radio buttons are only considered required if Category__c is set to 'Student (F)'