RegularExpressionValidator firing too early

I have an ASP.NET web application that is using RegularExpressionValidator controls inside of a user control. The user control is placed inside of a panel with an ajax:modal popup. When I click the link, it will open the popup displaying the user control.

What is happening is when I click the link to open the popup, it is throwing a postback and activating the validators before the user has any opportunity to开发者_Go百科 type anything into the boxes. I need to be able to click the link, open the popup, fill out the text boxes, and submit. The validators should only run when the submit button is clicked. Any ideas?

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setting the validators parameters on the load in the code behind of the popupbox might fix your problem