Using depends with the jQuery Validation plugin
- by Glenn Slaven
I've got a form with a bunch of textboxes that are disabled by default, then enabled by use of a checkbox next to each one.
When enabled, the values in these textboxes are required to be a valid number, but when disabled they don't need a value (obviously). I'm using the jQuery Validation plugin to do this validation, but it doesn't seem to be doing what I expect.
When I click the checkbox and disable the textbox, I still get the invalid field error despite the depends clause I've added to the rules (see code below). Oddly, what actually happens is that the error message shows for a split second then goes away.
Here is a sample of the list of checkboxes & textboxes:
<ul id="ItemList">
<li>
<label for="OneSelected">One</label><input id="OneSelected" name="OneSelected" type="checkbox" value="true" />
<input name="OneSelected" type="hidden" value="false" />
<input disabled="disabled" id="OneValue" name="OneValue" type="text" />
</li>
<li>
<label for="TwoSelected">Two</label><input id="TwoSelected" name="TwoSelected" type="checkbox" value="true" />
<input name="TwoSelected" type="hidden" value="false" />
<input disabled="disabled" id="TwoValue" name="TwoValue" type="text" />
</li>
</ul>
And here is the jQuery code I'm using
//Wire up the click event on the checkbox
jQuery('#ItemList :checkbox').click(function(event) {
var textBox = jQuery(this).siblings(':text');
textBox.valid();
if (!jQuery(this).attr("checked")) {
textBox.attr('disabled', 'disabled');
textBox.val('');
} else {
textBox.removeAttr('disabled');
textBox[0].focus();
}
});
//Add the rules to each textbox
jQuery('#ItemList :text').each(function(e) {
jQuery(this).rules('add', {
required: {
depends: function(element) {
return jQuery(element).siblings(':checkbox').attr('checked');
}
},
number: {
depends: function(element) {
return jQuery(element).siblings(':checkbox').attr('checked');
}
}
});
});
Ignore the hidden field in each li it's there because I'm using asp.net MVC's Html.Checkbox method.
