jQuery Validate - Only allow one out of two

Question

Need a little help. So got a form, where I\'ve got two fields mobile and telephone. Only one is required. My code below does that, but what I would like is I don\'t want peo

Answer 1

Use required method with a dependency-espression (jquery selector), this case using a :blank pseudo selector that is part of the validate plugin

$(form).validate({
   rules
   {
     mobile:{required: '#telephone:blank'}
     telephone:{required: '#mobile:blank'}
   }
});

from docs - 'Very often your expression will use selector filters such as #foo:checked, #foo:filled, #foo:visible. This plugin provides custom selectors for that purpose.'

EDIT

sorry, I didn't fully read the question. The closest method to what you need is the require_from_group method found in the additional-methods.js file of jQuery validate. You need a very minor tweak to test for exactly one validated field from your group.

eg

with code

jQuery.validator.addMethod("require_from_group_exact", function(value, element, options) {
    var validator = this;
    var selector = options[1];
    var validOrNot = $(selector, element.form).filter(function() {
        return validator.elementValue   (this);
    }).length == options[0];

    if(!$(element).data('being_validated')) {
        var fields = $(selector, element.form);
        fields.data('being_validated', true);
        fields.valid();
        fields.data('being_validated', false);
    }
    return validOrNot;
}, jQuery.format("Please fill {0} of these fields."));

$('form').validate({
    rules:{
    partnumber:  {require_from_group_exact: [1,".productinfo"]},
    description: {require_from_group_exact: [1,".productinfo"]}
    }
 });

if you compare this to the original method in addtional-methods.js you will see it is almost the same.

Hopefully this will help - you need to replace partnumber and description with 'telephone' and 'mobile' and you should be set.

fiddle here