Help with validation

[zwebert31]

I am trying to save my self from writing alot of code. is there anyway that i can put a variable in a document.formname.field.value statement?

var fieldname = "name_of_field_in_form";
var fname = document.register.fieldname.value;
if (fname == "")
{
alert("Please enter your first name.");
return false;
}

why doesnt this work^

[Sterling Isfine]

var fname = document.forms.register[ "name_of_field_in_form" ].value;

if( !/[a-z]{2}/i.test( fname ) )
{
 alert("Please enter your first name.");
 return false;
}

[bradleybebad]

Just out of curiousity, why doesn't this work??

if (fname == "")

Your solution seems to only check if the value has characters specified in your code in it; not if the value is empty.

if( !/[a-z]{2}/i.test( fname ) )
{
 alert("Please enter your first name.");
 return false;
}

I am not knocking your code (it is beautiful), but I am merely confused why you cannot ask if a variable's value is empty.

[Sterling Isfine]

I am not knocking your code (it is beautiful), but I am merely confused why you cannot ask if a variable's value is empty.

You can, but what if the field contains " "?. It's not empty but it's not what's expected either.

[bradleybebad]

Will you look at my recent post and see if you can help me? One is a Regex issue and the other is a validation problem (not the email validation). Thanks for the great answer!

OH YEAH!!! And how would you do if not letters and numerals?

[zwebert31]

thanks for the replies. i will edit that code. but my original question was if i can use a variable to set the form element being tested.

ex. if (document.myform.VARIABLEHERE.value == "")
{
}

thanks in advance i appreciate the help!

[zwebert31]

thanks for your help this is what worked for me.

var fname = document.register.elements['first_name_'+postfix].value;
if (fname == "")
{
alert("Please enter your first name.");
return false;
}

[Padonak]

one must remember that all these client-side validations can be easily falsified. it is much better to think about the server-side validation