jQuery Validate Required Select

I am trying to validate html select element using jQuery Validate plugin. I set "required" rule to true but it always passes validation because zero index is chosed by default. Is there any way to define empty value that is used by required rule?

UPD. Example. Imagine we have the following html control:

<select>
  <option value="default">Choose...</option>
  <option value="1">1</option>
  <option value="2">2</option>
</select>

I want Validation plugin to use "default" value as empty.

An easier solution has been outlined here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1271640/jquery-validate-select-box

Make the value be empty and add the required attribute

<select id="select" class="required">
<option value="">Choose an option</option> 
<option value="option1">Option1</option>
<option value="option2">Option2</option>
<option value="option3">Option3</option>
</select>

You can write your own rule!

 // add the rule here
 $.validator.addMethod("valueNotEquals", function(value, element, arg){
  return arg !== value;
 }, "Value must not equal arg.");

 // configure your validation
 $("form").validate({
  rules: {
   SelectName: { valueNotEquals: "default" }
  },
  messages: {
   SelectName: { valueNotEquals: "Please select an item!" }
  }  
 });

> the most simple solution

just set the value of the first option to empty string value=""

<option value="">Choose...</option>

and jquery validation required rule will work

use min rule

set first option value to 0

'selectName':{min:1}

You only need to put validate[required] as class of this select and then put a option with value=""

for example:

<select class="validate[required]">
  <option value="">Choose...</option>
  <option value="1">1</option>
  <option value="2">2</option>
</select>

I don't know how was the plugin the time the question was asked (2010), but I faced the same problem today and solved it this way:

1. Give your select tag a name attribute. For example in this case

   <select name="myselect">

2. Instead of working with the attribute value="default" in the tag option, disable the default option or set value="" as suggested by Andrew Coats

   <option disabled="disabled">Choose...</option>

   or

   <option value="">Choose...</option>

3. Set the plugin validation rule

   $( "#YOUR_FORM_ID" ).validate({ rules: { myselect: { required: true } } });

or

`<select name="myselect" class="required">`

Obs: Andrew Coats' solution works only if you have just one select in your form. If you want his solution to work with more than one select add a name attribute to your select.

Hope it helps! :)

<select class="design" id="sel" name="subject">
   <option value="0">- Please Select -</option>
   <option value="1"> Example1 </option>
   <option value="2"> Example2 </option>
   <option value="3"> Example3 </option>
   <option value="4"> Example4 </option>
</select>
<label class="error" id="select_error" style="color:#FC2727">
   <b> Warning : You have to Select One Item.</b>
</label>
<input type="submit" name="sub" value="Gönder" class="">

JQuery :

jQuery(function() {  
	jQuery('.error').hide(); // Hide Warning Label.	
	jQuery("input[name=sub]").on("click", function() {
		var returnvalue;
		if(jQuery("select[name=subject]").val() == 0) {
			jQuery("label#select_error").show(); // show Warning 
			jQuery("select#sel").focus();  // Focus the select box      
			returnvalue=false;   
		}
		return returnvalue;
	});
});  // you can change jQuery with $

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-validate/1.17.0/jquery.validate.min.js"></script>

 <form id="myform"> 
       <select class="form-control" name="user_type">
        <option value="">Select</option>
        <option value="2">1</option>
        <option value="3">2</option>
        </select>
       </form>


<script>
  $('#myform').validate({ // initialize the plugin
            rules: {
          user_type:{ required: true},
         }
      });
</script>

select value will be blank

The solution mentioned by @JMP worked in my case with a little modification: I use element.value instead of value in the addmethod.

$.validator.addMethod("valueNotEquals", function(value, element, arg){
    // I use element.value instead value here, value parameter was always null
	return arg != element.value; 
}, "Value must not equal arg.");

// configure your validation
$("form").validate({
	rules: {
		SelectName: { valueNotEquals: "0" }
	},
	messages: {
		SelectName: { valueNotEquals: "Please select an item!" }
	}  
});

It could be possible, that I have a special case here, but didn't track down the cause. But @JMP's solution should work in regular cases.

It's simple, you need to get the Select field value and it cannot be "default".

if($('select').val()=='default'){
    alert('Please, choose an option');
    return false;
}

how to validate the select "qualifica" it has 3 choose

$(document).ready(function(){
	
	$('.validateForm').validate({
		rules: {
			fullname: 'required',
			ragionesociale: 'required',
			partitaiva: 'required',
			recapitotelefonico: 'required',
			qualifica: 'required',
			email: {
				required: true,
				email: true
			},
		},
		submitHandler: function(form) {
		
			var fullname = $('#fullname').val(),
							ragionesociale = $('#ragionesociale').val(),
							partitaiva = $('#partitaiva').val(),
							email = $('#email').val(),
							recapitotelefonico = $('#recapitotelefonico').val(),
							qualifica = $('#qualifica').val(),
							dataString = 'fullname=' + fullname + '&ragionesociale=' + ragionesociale + '&partitaiva=' + partitaiva + '&email=' + email + '&recapitotelefonico=' + recapitotelefonico + '&qualifica=' + qualifica;
			
			$.ajax({
				type: "POST",
				url: "util/sender.php",
				data: dataString,
				success: function() {
					
					window.location.replace("./thank-you-page.php");
					
					
				}
			});
			return false;
		}
	});
	
});