jQuery Validation plugin doesn't validate dynamically created form elements

Question

I've a form where you dynamically can add new rows with input elements. Before submitting my form it gets validated by using the plugin from here http://jqueryvalidation.org/. Currently the code for adding a new row with input elements looks like this:

function addTimeRow(table, stime)
{
    //var rowIdx = $('#seminarTimes tr').length - 1;

    var $id = $('<input type="hidden" name="stid[]">');
    var $dateField = $('<input type="text" name="date[]" class="input-mini">');
    var $date = $('<div class="input-append date">')
        .append($dateField)
        .append('<span class="add-on"><i class="icon-calendar">');
    var $from = $('<input type="text" name="from[]" class="input-mini"> <span>(hh:mm)</span>');
    var $to = $('<input type="text" name="to[]" class="input-mini"> <span>(hh:mm)</span>');

    if (typeof(stime) !== 'undefined')
    {
        $id.attr('value', stime.id);
        $dateField.attr('value', stime.date);
        $from.attr('value', stime.from);
        $to.attr('value', stime.to);
    }
    else
        $id.attr('value', -1);

    // Attach new input row.
    table
        .append($('<tr>')
            .append($id)
            .append($('<td>')
                .append($date))
            .append($('<td>')
                .append($from))
            .append($('<td>')
                .append($to))
            .append($('<td class="vert">')
                .append($('<button class="btn btn-mini btnDelTime"><i class="icon-trash">'))));

    // Attach rules.
    $dateField.rules('add', { required: true });
    $from.rules('add', { required: true });
    $to.rules('add', { required: true });

    // Create pickers.
    $date.datepicker({
        language: 'de',
        autoclose: true,
        todayBtn: true,
        todayHighlight: true,
    }).on('changeDate', function(e) {
        editSeminarFormValidator.element($dateField);
        $date.datepicker('hide');
    });
}

In my document ready event I initialize the JQuery validation plugin like so:

var validator = $('#editSeminarForm').validate({
    debug: true,
    errorLabelContainer: '#error-label',
    wrapper: 'li',
    messages: {
        price: 'Bitte geben Sie einen Preis ein!'
    }
});

Now my actual problem is, that none of the new input fields gets validated. I know that I'm using input arrays for easier handling the form on the server-side. Are these arrays the problem why my input fields don't get validated?

EDIT - My current solution:

var rowIdx = 0;
function addTimeRow(table, stime)
{
    var $id = $($.validator.format('<input type="hidden" id="stid{0}" name="stid[{0}]">', rowIdx));
    var $dateField = $($.validator.format('<input type="text" id="date{0}" name="date[{0}]" class="input-mini">', rowIdx));
    var $date = $('<div class="input-append date">')
        .append($dateField)
        .append('<span class="add-on"><i class="icon-calendar">');
    var $from = $($.validator.format('<input type="text" id="from{0}" name="from[{0}]" class="input-mini"> <span>(hh:mm)</span>', rowIdx));
    var $to = $($.validator.format('<input type="text" id="to{0}" name="to[{0}]" class="input-mini"> <span>(hh:mm)</span>', rowIdx));

    if (typeof(stime) !== 'undefined')
    {
        $id.attr('value', stime.id);
        $dateField.attr('value', stime.date);
        $from.attr('value', stime.from);
        $to.attr('value', stime.to);
    }
    else
        $id.attr('value', -1);

    // Attach new input row.
    table
        .append($('<tr>')
            .append($id)
            .append($('<td>')
                .append($date))
            .append($('<td>')
                .append($from))
            .append($('<td>')
                .append($to))
            .append($('<td class="vert">')
                .append($('<button class="btn btn-mini btnDelTime"><i class="icon-trash">'))));

    // Attach rules.
    $dateField.rules('add', { required: true });
    $from.rules('add', { required: true });
    $to.rules('add', { required: true });

    // Create pickers.
    $date.datepicker({
        language: 'de',
        autoclose: true,
        todayBtn: true,
        todayHighlight: true,
    }).on('changeDate', function(e) {
        editSeminarFormValidator.element($dateField);
        $date.datepicker('hide');
    });

    rowIdx++;
}

Works like a charm!

Answer 1

There seems to be nothing majorly wrong with the logic you're using for adding rules to the new elements. Although, you'll need to attach the .rules() method to a jQuery object using a jQuery selector, not the element's HTML.

something like...

$('#myInputID').rules('add', {...});

or...

$('input[name="myname"]').rules('add', {...});

But the heart of your problem is in here...

var $id = $('<input type="hidden" name="stid[]">');
    var $dateField = $('<input type="text" name="date[]" class="input-mini">');
    var $date = $('<div class="input-append date">')
        .append($dateField)
        .append('<span class="add-on"><i class="icon-calendar">');
    var $from = $('<input type="text" name="from[]" class="input-mini"> <span>(hh:mm)</span>');
    var $to = $('<input type="text" name="to[]" class="input-mini"> <span>(hh:mm)</span>');

Notice the name attribute? It's going to be the same for every new row.

The problem is that the jQuery Validate plugin will not work unless each input element contains a unique name. Simply modify your code to ensure that a new name is created for each new element.

---

EDIT: Indexed arrays will work fine with this plugin. Just increment the index when you create the new element.

name="from[0]", name="from[1]", name="from[2]", etc.

Answer 2

It might be a duplicate of:

1. Adding jQuery validator rules to dynamically created elements in ASP
2. jQuery - How to dynamically add a validation rule

Long story short, you have to call

$('input').rules('add', 'required')

http://validation.bassistance.de/rules

or, updated,

http://jqueryvalidation.org/rules

As a side note: since you inject a lot of HTML from JS it might be a good idea to try a template engine.