How can I make it necessary for the user to click a button for the form to be validated?

Question

I have a group of buttons, and ONE of them needs to be clicked in order to proceed to the next form:

<div class="btn-group" data-toggle="buttons-radio">
                        <button type="button" class="btn" data-bind="click: sportYes">Yes</button>
                        <button type="button" class="btn" data-bind="click: sportBasic">Basic</button>
                        <button type="button" class="btn" data-bind="click: sportNo">No</button>
                    </div>

I am using jquery validate, and I want to write a validate method but I can't use my typical approach, such as giving a text field a value of required, eg

$("#FormThatNeedsToBeValidated").validate({
    rules: {
        textinput1: {
            required: true
        },
        textinput2: {
            required: true
        }}});

Even if I knew the syntax, I don't think this would help, since not ALL buttons are required. Is there a way to leverage the active attribute that's rendered when one of my three buttons is clicked?

Answer 1

A <button> is not eligible for validation using this plugin.

This plugin will only work on the following eight kinds of data input elements (each must have a unique name attribute), which also must be contained within a form element:

<form>

   <!-- Textbox Input - Also including the various HTML5 input types -->
   <input type="text" name="something" />

   <!-- Password Input -->
   <input type="password" name="pw" />

   <!-- Radio Button -->
   <input type="radio" name="foo" />

   <!-- Checkbox -->
   <input type="checkbox" name="bar" />

   <!-- File Upload -->
   <input type="file" name="upload" />

   <!-- Hidden Input - 'ignore: []' must be defined in the options -->
   <input type="hidden" name="hide" />

   <!-- Select Dropdown -->
   <select name="foobar"> ... </select>

   <!-- Text Area Box -->
   <textarea name="barfoo"></textarea>

</form>

Also see the "reference" page in the docs: http://jqueryvalidation.org/reference/

---

To achieve the desired effect, you can test & submit the form upon clicking a particular button. Use the .valid() method to test/check and submit() to submit the form.

HTML :

<button type="button" class="btn" id="sportYes">Yes</button>
<button type="button" class="btn" id="sportBasic">Basic</button>
<button type="button" class="btn" id="sportNo">No</button>

jQuery :

$(document).ready(function() {

    $("#FormThatNeedsToBeValidated").validate({  // <- initialize plugin on form
        // rules & options
    });

    $('#sportYes').on('click', function() {
        // stuff to do when this button is clicked
        if ($("#FormThatNeedsToBeValidated").valid()) { // <- test validity
            // stuff to do on valid form
            $("#FormThatNeedsToBeValidated").submit();  // <- submit the valid form
        }
    });

    $('#sportBasic').on('click', function() {
        // stuff to do when this button is clicked
    });

    $('#sportNo').on('click', function() {
        // stuff to do when this button is clicked
    });

});

DEMO: http://jsfiddle.net/PgCr2/