jquery.validate plugin - how to trim values before form validation

Question

I\'m using the excellent jquery.validation plugin by Jörn Zaefferer and I was wondering whether there\'s a easy way to automatically trim form elements before they are valid

Answer 1

Since I want this behavior on all my forms by default I decided to modify the jquery.validate.js file. I applied the following change to onfocusout method:

Original:

onfocusout: function (element, event) {
    if (!this.checkable(element) && (element.name in this.submitted || !this.optional(element))) {
        this.element(element);
    }
}

To:

onfocusout: function (element, event) {
    if (element.tagName === "TEXTAREA" || (element.tagName === "INPUT" && element.type !== "password")) {
        element.value = $.trim(element.value);
    }
    if (!this.checkable(element) && (element.name in this.submitted || !this.optional(element))) {
        this.element(element);
    }
}

I do want to allow spaces at the begging and end of password.

autoTrim could be added as a property to options.