jQuery Form Validator

Validation framework that let's you configure, rather than code, your validation logic.

I started writing this plugin back in 2009 and it has given me much joy over the years. But all good things must come to an end and now it's time for this plugin to pull in its oars and go down with history.

NOTICE! This plugin is no longer being developed! It supports jQuery v. 1.8 >= 2.2.4. No pull requests will become merged in but feel free to fork and do whatever you like!

Usage example

<form action="" method="POST">
  <p>
    Name (4 characters minimum):
    <input name="user" data-validation="length" data-validation-length="min4" />
  </p>
  <p>
    Birthdate (yyyy-mm-dd):
    <input name="birth" data-validation="birthdate" />
  </p>
  <p>
    Website:
    <input name="website" data-validation="url" />
  </p>
  <p>
    <input type="submit" />
  </p>
</form>
<script src="js/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="js/form-validator/jquery.form-validator.min.js"></script>
<script>
    $.validate({
        modules : 'date, security'
    });
</script>

Support for HTML5

This plugin can serve as a fallback solution for the validation attributes in the HTML5 spec. With the html5 module you can use the following native features:

Attributes: require, pattern, maxlength, min, max, placeholder

Input types: url, date, time, email, number

Elements: Use the element datalist to create input suggestions

Default validators and features (no module needed)

• url
• email
• domain — domain.com
• number — float/negative/positive/range/step
• date — yyyy-mm-dd (format can be customized, more information below)
• alphanumeric — with support for defining additional characters
• length — min/max/range
• required — no validation except that a value has to be given
• custom — Validate value against regexp
• checkboxgroup — ensure at least 1 checkbox in group has been selected
• Show help information automatically when input is focused
• Validate given values immediately when input looses focus.
• Make validation optional by adding attribute data-validation-optional="true" to the element. This means that the validation defined in data-validation only will take place in case a value is given.
• Make validation dependent on another input of type checkbox being checked by adding attribute data-validation-if-checked="name of checkbox input"
• Create input suggestions with ease, no jquery-ui needed
• to apply multiple validators to an input element, separate the validator names using a space (ex: required email)

Read the documentation for the default features at #default-validators

Module: security

• spamcheck
• confirmation
• creditcard
• CVV
• strength — Validate the strength of a password
• server — Validate value of input on server side
• letternumeric — Validate that the input value consists out of only letters and/or numbers
• recaptcha - Validate Google reCaptcha 2

Read the documentation for the security module at http://formvalidator.net/#security-validators

Module: date

• time — hh:mm
• birthdate — yyyy-mm-dd, not allowing dates in the future or dates that's older than 122 years (format can be customized, more information below)

Read the documentation for the date module at http://formvalidator.net/#date-validators

Module: location

• country
• federatestate
• longlat
• Suggest countries (english only)
• Suggest states in the US

Read the documentation for the location module at http://formvalidator.net/#location-validators

Module: file

• mime
• extension
• size (file size)
• dimension (size dimension and ratio)

Read the documentation for the file module at http://formvalidator.net/#file-validators

Module: logic

• Dependent validation
• Require "one-of"

Read the documentation for this module at http://formvalidator.net/#logic

Module: sepa

• IBAN
• BIC
• Sepa

Read the documentation for this module at http://formvalidator.net/#sepa

Module: sweden

• swemob — validate that the value is a swedish mobile telephone number
• swesec — validate swedish social security number
• county - validate that the value is an existing county in Sweden
• municipality - validate that the value is an existing municipality in Sweden
• Suggest county
• Suggest municipality

Read the documentation for the Swedish module at http://formvalidator.net/#sweden-validators

Module: uk

• ukvatnumber
• uknin
• ukutr

Read the documentation for the UK module at http://formvalidator.net/#uk-validators

Module: brazil

• brphone — Validate a brazilian telephone number
• cep
• cpf

Module: poland

• plpesel - validate polish personal identity number (in Polish identity cards)
• plnip - validate polish VAT identification number
• plregon - validate polish bussiness identity number

Module: color

• hex - validate hex color format
• rgb - validate rgb color format
• rgba - validate rgba color format
• hsl - validate hsl color format
• hsla - validate hsla color format

Module: sanitation

• trim
• trimLeft
• trimRight
• upper — Convert all letters to upper case
• lower — Convert all letters to lower case
• capitalize — Convert the first letter in all words to upper case
• insertRight — Declare a text that should be inserted at the end of the value, attribute data-sanitize-insert-right
• insertLeft — Declare a text that should be inserted at the beginning of the value, attribute data-sanitize-insert-left
• escape — Convert < > & ' " to html entities
• strip — Comma separated list with words that gets automatically removed
• numberFormat — Declare the attribute data-sanitize-number-format with any of the formats described on http://numeraljs.com/. Note that this rule requires that numeral.js is included in the page

Read the documentation for the sanitation module at http://formvalidator.net/#data-sanitation

Writing a custom validator

You can use the function $.formUtils.addValidator() to add your own validation function. Here's an example of a validator that checks if the input contains an even number.

<form action="" method="POST">
    <p>
        <input type="text" data-validation="even" />
    </p>
    ...
</form>
<script src="js/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="js/form-validator/jquery.form-validator.min.js"></script>
<script>

    // Add validator
    $.formUtils.addValidator({
        name : 'even',
        validatorFunction : function(value, $el, config, language, $form) {
            return parseInt(value, 10) % 2 === 0;
        },
        errorMessage : 'You have to answer an even number',
        errorMessageKey: 'badEvenNumber'
    });

    // Initiate form validation
    $.validate();

</script>

Required properties passed into $.formUtils.addValidator

name - The name of the validator, which is used in the validation attribute of the input element.

validatorFunction - Callback function that validates the input. Should return a boolean telling if the value is considered valid or not.

errorMessageKey - Name of language property that is used in case the value of the input is invalid.

errorMessage - An alternative error message that is used if errorMessageKey is left with an empty value or isn't defined in the language object. Note that you also can use inline error messages in your form.

The validation function takes these five arguments:

• value — the value of the input thats being validated
• $el — jQuery object referring to the input element being validated
• config — Object containing the configuration of this form validation
• language — Object with error dialogs
• $form — jQuery object referring to the form element being validated

Creating a custom module

A "module" is basically a javascript file containing one or more calls to $.formUtils.addValidator(). The module file must be placed in the same directory as jquery.form-validator.min.js if you want it to load automatically via the setup function.

You can use the method $.formUtils.loadModules if you want to load the module from a custom path.

$.formUtils.loadModules('customModule otherCustomModule', 'js/validation-modules/');
$.validate({
   modules: 'security, date'
});

The first argument of $.formUtils.loadModules is a comma separated string with names of module files, without file extension.

The second argument is the path where the module files are located. This argument is optional, if not given the module files has to be located in the same directory as the core modules shipped together with this jquery plugin (js/form-validator/)

Show help information

It is possible to display help information for each input. The information will fade in when input is focused and fade out when input looses focus.

<form action="" id="my_form">
	<p>
	  <strong>Why not:</strong>
	  <textarea name="why" data-validation-help="Please give us some more information" data-validation="required"></textarea>
	</p>
	...

Fully customizable

Read about how to customize this plugin over at http://formvalidator.net/#configuration

Validate On Event

You can cause an element to be validated upon the firing of an event, by attaching an attribute to the form input element named data-validation-event="click". When the configuration settings have validateOnEvent : true, the click event will trigger the onBlur validaton for that element. Possible use case: Checkboxes. Instead of waiting for the checkbox to lose focus (blur) and waiting for a validation to occurr, you can specify that elements validation should occur as soon as that checkbox element is clicked.

Localization

This plugin comes with translations for English, Polish, Romanian, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Czech, Catalan, Russian, Italian, French, German, Swedish and Portuguese. You can also choose to override the error dialogs yourself. Here you can read more about localization

Default validators

Answer length (required)

<!-- Require an answer (can be applied to all types of inputs and select elements) -->
<input type="text" data-validation="required">
<input type="checkbox" name="agreement" data-validation="required">
<select name="answer" data-validation="required">
  <option value=""> - - Answer - - </option>
  <option>Yes</option>
  <option>No</option>
</select>

<!-- Max 100 characters -->
<input type="text" data-validation="length" data-validation-length="max100">

<!-- Minimum 20 characters -->
<input type="text" data-validation="length" data-validation-length="min20">

<!-- No less than 50 characters and no more than 200 characters -->
<input type="text" data-validation="length" data-validation-length="50-200">

<!-- Require that atleast 2 options gets choosen -->
<select multiple="multiple" size="5" data-validation="length" data-validation-length="min2">
  <option>A</option>
  <option>B</option>
  <option>C</option>
  <option>D</option>
  <option>E</option>
</select>

This plugin also supports the attributes "required" and "maxlength" by using the Html5 module.

Numbers

<!-- Any numerical value -->
<input type="text" data-validation="number">

<!-- Only allowing float values -->
<input type="text" data-validation="number" data-validation-allowing="float">

<!-- Allowing float values and negative values -->
<input type="text" data-validation="number" data-validation-allowing="float,negative">

<!-- Validate float number with comma separated decimals -->
<input type="text" data-validation="number" data-validation-allowing="float" 
		 data-validation-decimal-separator=",">

<!-- Only allowing numbers from 1 to 100 -->
<input type="text" data-validation="number" data-validation-allowing="range[1;100]">

<!-- Only allowing numbers from -50 to 30 -->
<input type="text" data-validation="number" data-validation-allowing="range[-50;30],negative">

<!-- Only allowing numbers from 0.05 to 0.5 -->
<input type="text" data-validation="number" data-validation-allowing="range[0.05;0.5],float">
You can also define the decimal separator when initializing the validation.

<p>
    <strong>Average points</strong><br>
    <input type="text" data-validation="number" data-validation-allowing="float">
  </p>
  ....
</form>
<script>
  $.validate({
    decimalSeparator : ','
  });
</script>

Inputs of type "number" will also become validated by loading the html5 module.

E-mail

<input type="text" data-validation="email">

Inputs of type "email" will also become validated by loading the html5 module.

URL:s

<input type="text" data-validation="url">

Inputs of type "url" will also become validated by loading the html5 module.

Date

<!-- Validate date formatted yyyy-mm-dd -->
<input type="text" data-validation="date">

<!-- Validate date formatted yyyy-mm-dd but dont require leading zeros -->
<input type="text" data-validation="date" data-validation-require-leading-zero="false">

<!-- Validate date formatted dd/mm/yyyy -->
<input type="text" data-validation="date" data-validation-format="dd/mm/yyyy">

See the date module for further validators.

Alphanumeric

<!-- This input requires an answer that contains only letters a-z and/or numbers -->
<input type="text" data-validation="alphanumeric">

<!-- This input requires the same as the one above but it also allows hyphen and underscore -->
<input type="text" data-validation="alphanumeric" data-validation-allowing="-_">

If you want to allow any kind of letters (not only A-Z) you're looking for the letternumeric validator.

Checkboxes Group

Validate qty of checkboxes in a group (same name) have been checked, using min, max or range. Only the first checkbox element in the group needs to have the validation attributes added.

<!-- Require checkboxes in this group, min1 -->
<input type="checkbox" name="newsletters[]" data-validation="checkbox_group" data-validation-qty="min1">
<!-- Require checkboxes in this group, max3 -->
<input type="checkbox" name="newsletters[]" data-validation="checkbox_group" data-validation-qty="max3">
<!-- Require checkboxes in this group, min1, max4 -->
<input type="checkbox" name="newsletters[]" data-validation="checkbox_group" data-validation-qty="1-4">
If your checkboxes group is generated by a server-side script and you don't want to add the validation attributes to each input element, you can use this javascript snippet before calling the validatorLoad() function

<!-- Add validation attributes to first input element in
 checkboxes group, before loading validator -->
<script>
$("[name='newsletters[]']:eq(0)")
  .valAttr('','validate_checkbox_group')
  .valAttr('qty','1-2')
  .valAttr('error-msg','chose 1, max 2');
</script>
Regexp
<!-- This input would only allow lowercase letters a-z -->
<input type="text" data-validation="custom" data-validation-regexp="^([a-z]+)$">

This plugin also supports the attribute "pattern" by using the Html5 module.

Character count down

<p>
    History (<span id="maxlength">50</span> characters left)
    <textarea rows="3" id="area"></textarea>
  </p>
<script>
  $('#area').restrictLength($('#maxlength'));
</script>

Make validation optional

<!-- This input will only be validated if a value is given -->
<input type="text" data-validation="url" data-validation-optional="true">

You can also use the logic module if you want the validation of an input depend on another input having a value.

Display help text

It is possible to display help information beside each input. The text will fade in when the input gets focus on and fade out when the input looses focus. The container for the help text will have the class form-help. If you don't want this feature you can read the setup guide on how to disable it.

<form action="" id="some-form">
    <p>
      <strong>Why not?</strong>
      <input name="why" data-validation-help="Please give us some more information">
    </p>
    ...
  </form>

Validate inputs when blurred

By default each input will become validated immediately when the input looses focus. If you don't want this feature you can read the setup guide on how to disable it.

Input suggestions

There are two ways you can give suggestions to the user while the user types.

1. Using attribute data-suggestions

<p>
    What's your favorite color?
    <input name="color" data-suggestions="White, Green, Blue, Black, Brown">
  </p>
  ...
</form>

2. Using $.formUtils.suggest()

<script>
  var largeArray = [];
  largeArray.push('Something');
  largeArray.push('Something else');
  ...

  $.formUtils.suggest( $('#the-input'), largeArray );
</script>

This plugin also supports the data-list element by using the Html5 module.

Ignoring characters You can tell any validator to ignore certain characters by using the attribute data-validation-ignore (comma separated list).

<p>
  How much do you want to donate?
  <!-- Make it optional to end the amount with a dollar-sign -->
  <input name="color" data-validation="number" data-validation-ignore="$">
</p>

Changelog

2.3.19

• New translations (Polish, Romanian, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Czech, Russian, Italian)
• Several improvements made to already existing translations
• "Validation help" no longer puts constraints on input names
• Improved confirmation validation
• Config parameter errorMessagePosition is now only used to point out where error message should be placed. New configuration parameters is introduced that handles custom positioning of error messages #226
• Now possible to add data-validation-ignore to filter out certain characters before validation
• New sanitation method strip that removes defined characters
• Now possible to declare attributes not prefixed with data-validation in jsconf module
• All inputs gets sanitized on page load when using sanitation module
• Allow dates to omit leading zero using data-validation-require-leading-zero="false"
• Module toggleDisabled now acts on value change, not only mouse click
• data-validation-if-checked now deprecated, use data-validation-depends-on instead #153
• Event beforeValidation now gets value, language and configuration as arguments and can be used to prevent validation of the input.
• Security module now has a recaptcha validator that uses Google reCaptcha 2
• The plugin is installable using npm (also possible to require validation modules when using browserify)
• Polish validation module
• Brazilian validation module
• UK validation module now also have validators uknin ukutr
• Sepa-module that makes it possible to validate sepa, iban and bic.
• New module named "logic" containing the features data-validation-depends-on and data-validation-optional-if-answered

2.2.8

• The plugin is now again possible to install via bower.
• Portoguese language pack and validators
• New module used for data-sanitiation
• E-mail addresses now validated in accordance to rfc 6531
• Now possible to use $.fn.validate to programmatically validate inputs
• Hidden inputs won't get validated by default (can be overriden using option validateHiddenInputs)

2.2.43

• Fixed min/max parse error in HTML5 module
• Now also supports Twitter bootstraps horizontal forms
• This plugin now also distributes a default CSS theme including success/fail icons (used on formvalidator.net)
• Email validation now won't fail if email begins with a number
• This plugin now comes with error dialogs translated to English, French, German, Spanish and English.
• New validator letternumeric. Validates that input consists out of any type of letter (not only alphanumeric) and/or numbers
• You can now validate image dimension and ratio
• ... and a bunch of other smaller bug fixes and improvements.

2.2.0

• Now possible to define an error message for each validation rule on a certain input (issue #113)
• This plugin now serves as a html5 fallback. You can now use the native attributes to declare which type of validation that should be applied.
• Use a template for error messages when having errorMessagePosition set to top
• Added validation of credit card number and CVV to the security module
• Event onElementValidate added
• Use the attribute data-validation-confirm to declare which input that should be confirmed when using validation=confirmation (issue #112)
• Validation "required" now supports inputs of type radio
• $.validateForm is now deprecated, use $.isValid instead
• Possible to check if form is valid programmatically without showing error messages
• Select elements can now be validated server-side
• Cleaned up dialog messages
• Various IE8 fixes
• Possible to send along parameters to the server when using server side validation
• Now possible to set your own parameter name when using server side validation
• Improved/simplified URL validation
• ... and a whole lot more small improvements

2.1.47

• Incorrect error-styling when using datepicker or suggestions is now fixed
• Incorrect error-styling of select elements is now fixed
• Deprecated function $.validationSetup is now removed, use $.validate() instead
• You can now return an array with errors using the event onValidate
• You can now declare an element where all error messages should be placed (config.errorMessagePosition)

2.1.36

• Now possible to use the native reset() function to clear error messages and error styling of the input elements

2.1.34

• General improvements and bug fixes
• Added events "beforeValidation" and "validation" (see http://formvalidator.net/#configuration_callbacks for more info)

2.1.27

• E-mail validation support .eu top domain
• Improvements in server validation
• Now possible to re-initiate the validation. This makes it possible to dynamically change the form and then call $.validate() again to refresh the validation (issue #59)
• Number validation now supports range

2.1.15

• E-mail addresses can now contain + symbol
• Correction of the US states in validation "federatestate"
• Fixed bug in server validation

2.1.09

• File validation now support multiple files
• Length validation can now be used to validate the number of uploaded files using a file input that supports multiple files
• Validation classes is no longer applied on inputs that for some reason shouldn't become validated

2.1.08

• Now possible to configure the decimal separator when validating float values. Use either the attribute data-validation-decimal-separator or the property decimalSeparator when calling $.validate()
• $.validationSetup is renamed to $.validate. You will still be able to initiate the validation by calling the $.validationSetup but it's considered deprecated.

2.1.06

• Modules can now be loaded from remote websites

2.1.05

• Fixed language bug (issue #43 on github)
• Validation on server side is now triggered by the blur event
• Now using class names that's compliant with twitter bootstrap 3.x

2.1

• Code refactoring and some functions renamed
• Validator "checkbox_group" added

2.0.7

• Now possible to validate file size, extension and mime type (using the file module)

2.0

• [min|max]_length is removed (now merged with length validation).
• The number, int and float validation is merged together, all three variants is now validated by the number validation.
• Phone validation is moved to "sweden" module and renamed to swephone.
• The attribute to be used when defining the regular expression for custom validations is now moved to its own attribute (data-validation-regexp)
• Length validation now looks at attribute data-validation-length (eg. min5, max200, 3-12).
• The validation rule no longer needs to be prefixed with "validate_" (it's still possible to use the prefix but it's considered deprecated).
• Some validation functions is moved to modules (see the function reference over at http://formvalidator.net).
• Added function $.validationSetup() to reduce the amount of code that has to be written when initiating the form validation.

Credits

http://www.formvalidator.net/#credits