Question

I have five drop down lists with the same options in my form and there should be validation that a drop down cannot have the value which already selected from previous drop down…

<select id ="selected" name="expenseType" class="dynamic_select" >
     <option value="0">-select-</option>
     <option value="1">Van</option>
     <option value="2">SUV</option>
     <option value="3">Hatcback</option>
     <option value="4">Jeep</option>
</select>

On submitting, how can I validate this? I am using the jQuery validation plugin to validate the form.

Answer 1

Try something like this

var isValid = true;
var $dynamicSelect = $("select.dynamic_select");
$dynamicSelect.each(function(){
   if($dynamicSelect.find("option[value="+this.value+"]:selected").length > 1){
      isValid = false;
      return false;
   }
});

Now use isValid variable to show the appropriate error message or go ahead and submit the form.