How to set the message of the NotEmpty validator on a Zend_Form_Element?

Question

I have a form element that I'm setting as required:

$this->addElement('text', 'email', array(
    'label'      => 'Email address:',
    'required'   => true
));

Since I'm setting required to true, it makes sure that it's not empty. The default error message looks like this:

"Value is required and can't be empty"

I tried setting the message on the validator, but this throws a fatal error:

$validator = $this->getElement('email')->getValidator('NotEmpty');
$validator->setMessage('Please enter your email address.');

Call to a member function setMessage() on a non-object

How can I set the message to a custom error message?

Answer 1

You need to overwrite / specify the NotEmpty-validator instead of using the default one:

$this->addElement('text', 'email', array(
    'label'      => 'Email address:',
    'required'   => true,
    'validators' => array (
       'NotEmpty' => array (
          'validator' => 'NotEmpty',
          'options' => array (
              'messages' => 'YOUR CUSTOM ERROR MESSAGE'
          )
       )
    )
));