Display Error Message in a separate div using jQuery validation

Question

I am using jQuery validation and I am wanting to display the error message in a div <div class="alert alert-error" id="errorContainer"> The default of showing below the forms does not work with my form design.

The validation script is linked to the page I have the form on and it looks like:

    $(function validate() {

    var rules = {
                rules: {
                    full_name: {
                        minlength: 2,
                        maxlength: 50,
                        required: true
                    },
                    address: {
                        minlength: 5,
                        required: true
                    },
                    city: {
                        minlength: 2,
                        required: true
                    },
                    state: {
                        minlength: 2,
                        maxlength: 2,
                        required: true
                    },
                    zip: {
                        minlength:5, 
                        maxlength:5,
                        required: true
                    },
                    phone: {
                        required: true,
                        phoneUS: true
                    },
                    phone_other: {
                        required: true,
                        phoneUS: true
                    },
                    email: {
                        required: true,
                        email: true
                    },
                    date_to_start: {
                        required: true
                    },
                    ssn: {
                        required: true,
                        ssn: true,
                    },
                    salary: {
                        required: true
                    }

                }
            };

        var validationObj = $.extend (rules, Application.validationRules);

        $('#employment-application').validate(validationObj);

});

Now I did try changing $('#employment-application').validate(validationObj); to the code below as well as tried adding it to the bottom of the page I have the form on, both gave negative results. The script seems to add style="display:none;" to the errorContainer and does not load any errors anywhere.

(tried changing $('#employment-application').validate(validationObj); to the below)

$("#employment-application").validate({
        errorContainer: "#errorContainer", 
        errorLabelContainer: "#errorContainer", 
        errorElement: "li"
    })

So re-cap, I am wanting to use jQuery Form Validation and display the error messages received in a separate div because the default does not work with my form design.

Answer 1

If only want to change the default placement to certain elements, you can use this improvement. This implements the default behaviour of validate script

    errorPlacement: function(error, element){
        var name    = $(element).attr("name");
        var $obj    = $("#" + name + "_validate");
        if($obj.length){
            error.appendTo($obj);
        }
        else {
            error.insertAfter(element);
        }
    },

Answer 2

You can use the errorPlacement option to pass a callback like this: http://jsfiddle.net/cMhQ7/

I've used a standard of the div id being the input element's name concatenated with a _validate suffix but you can change as you wish.

HTML

<form id="employment-application" method="post">
    <input name="full_name" type="text" />
    <div id="full_name_validate"></div>
    <input type="submit" />
</form>

Javascript

$(function validate() {

    var rules = {
        rules: {
            full_name: {
                minlength: 2,
                maxlength: 50,
                required: true
            },
        },
        errorPlacement: function (error, element) {
            var name = $(element).attr("name");
            error.appendTo($("#" + name + "_validate"));
        },
    };

    $('#employment-application').validate(rules);

});