jQuery Validation of ASP.Net CheckBoxList

Question

Before I start I'd just like to state that the code created by ASP.NET for CheckBoxLists is probably the worst thing I've ever seen.

Anyway,

I am using the jQuery validation plugin to validate my ASP.net form. There is a requirement to validate some checkboxes. These are generated by a CheckBoxList control.

<asp:CheckBoxList ID="CBContext" runat="server" RepeatColumns="2" 
              DataSourceID="sqlLibraryEnquiries" DataTextField="value" DataValueField="value" name="topic">
</asp:CheckBoxList>

This control produces the following abomination of xHTML

<table id="MainContent_CBContext" name="topic">
    <tr>
        <td>
          <input id="MainContent_CBContext_0" type="checkbox" name="ctl00$MainContent$CBContext$0" value="Business" /><label for="MainContent_CBContext_0">Business</label>
        </td>
        <td>
          <input id="MainContent_CBContext_2" type="checkbox" name="ctl00$MainContent$CBContext$2" value="Legal" /><label for="MainContent_CBContext_2">Legal</label>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>
           <input id="MainContent_CBContext_1" type="checkbox" name="ctl00$MainContent$CBContext$1" value="Business Development" /><label for="MainContent_CBContext_1">Business Development</label>
        </td>
        <td>
           <input id="MainContent_CBContext_3" type="checkbox" name="ctl00$MainContent$CBContext$3" value="Library" /><label for="MainContent_CBContext_3">Library</label>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table>

The issue I am having is actually getting the jQuery Validator plugin to hook into the checkbox list. In my rules section for all the other fields I can get to them with their names for example ctl00$MainContent$tbActions: but the checkboxes all have different names.

The cb_selectone rule isn't firing because the object I am trying to validate is never found. I have tried the following identifiers. CBContext, ctl00$MainContent$CBContext, MainContent_CBContext and checkboxes.

$("#Form1").validate({

     rules: {
     //WHAT GOES HERE???? --------->>    CBContext or ctl00$MainContent$CBContext or MainContent_CBContext or checkboxes all don't work: {
            cb_selectone: true
         }
      }
});

Thanks for your help.

SM

Answer 1

I made a small adjustment in the JAVASCRIPT method:

$.validator.addMethod('cb_selectone',
    function (value) {
        if ($('[id$=CBContext] input:checked').length > 0) {
            return true;
        }
        else
        {
            return false;
        }
    }, ""
);