Using JQuery Validate Plugin to validate multiple form fields with identical names

user_72384 0
Viewed 93790

I have a dynamically generated form with input fields with the same name (for example: "map"). I do not have the option of changing the field names or generating unique field names because the form handler code (Perl/CGI) is designed to handle an array of input values (in this case @map).

How can I use the JQuery Validate Plugin to validate a form in such a situation? Specifically I would want exactly one element of the submitted array to have a certain fixed value. I am currently using a custom event handler that creates a JSON object with serializeArray() and then traverses it to ensure that the condition is met. But since I have used the Validate Plugin in the rest of the application, I was wondering if such a case may be handled using the same plugin here too.

Thank you for your attention.

jquery-validate validation jquery
12 Answers

I spent some time searching and trying different things when finally I tried the most trivial way of doing validation on multiple fields. Each field and it's clones share a class unique to each set. I just looped through the inputs with that class and added my validation rules as usual. I hope this might help someone else.

    $("#submit").click(function(){
    $("input.years").each(function(){
        $(this).rules("add", {
            required: true,
            messages: {
                required: "Specify the years you worked"
            }
        } );            
    });

    $("input.employerName").each(function(){
        $(this).rules("add", {
            required: true,
            messages: {
                required: "Specify the employer name"
            }
        } );            
    }); 

    $("input.employerPhone").each(function(){
        $(this).rules("add", {
            required: true,
            minlength: 10,
            messages: {
                required: "Specify the employer phone number",
                minlength: "Not long enough"
            }
        } );            
    }); 

    $("input.position").each(function(){
        $(this).rules("add", {
            required: true,
            messages: {
                required: "Specify your position"
            }
        } );            
    });             

    $("input.referenceName").each(function(){
        $(this).rules("add", {
            required: true,
            messages: {
                required: "Specify the reference name"
            }
        } );            
    });         

    $("input.referencePhone").each(function(){
        $(this).rules("add", {
            required: true,
            minlength: 10,
            messages: {
                required: "Specify your reference phone number",
                minlength: "Not long enough"
            }
        } );            
    });

// Now do your normal validation here, but don't assign rules/messages for the fields we just set them for





});
Admin1

I just learned from a mail by the Plugins author, Jörn Zaefferer, that validation requires field names to be unique except for radio buttons and check boxes.

user_723840

I think you misunderstood the workings of HTML forms. Every form element needs to have an unique name, except multiple checkboxes and buttons that allow you to choose one/multiple options for one data field.

In your case, not only JQuery validation, but also a server-side form validator would fail, because it can't assign the inputs to the data fields. Suppose, you want the user to enter prename, lastname, e-mail-adress, fax (optional) and all your input fields have name="map"

Then you would receive these lists on submit:

map = ['Joe','Doe','joe.doeAThotmail.com','++22 20182238'] //All fields completed
map = ['Joe','Doe','joe.doeAThotmail.com'] //OK, all mandatory fields completed 
map = ['Doe', 'joe.doeAThotmail.com','++22 20182238']//user forgot prename, should yield error

You see that it is impossible to validate this form reliably.

I recommend to revisit the documentation of your perl form handler or adapt it if you wrote it on your own.

Franz_794270
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