Form Unobtrusive Validation Sketch

Form Unobtrusive Validation Sketch: free step-by-step lesson with examples, common mistakes, and interview tips — part of jQuery Tutorial on Toolliyo Academy.

8 min read Updated 8/23/2026

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jQuery Tutorial · Lesson 74 of 100

Form Unobtrusive Validation Sketch

Setup & DOM ✓ → Events Effects AJAX ✓ → Perf & Integrate → Ship & Projects

Perf & Integrate · 3 — Harden · ~10 min · App Integration

What is this?

ASP.NET unobtrusive validation uses data-val-* attributes and jQuery Validate. Sketch: ensure jquery → jquery.validate → jquery.validate.unobtrusive, then let submit be blocked on invalid fields.

Why should you care?

QueryVerse create forms on Core often already emit data-val attributes from DataAnnotations.

See it live — copy this example

Examples include the jQuery 3.7 CDN. Paste into an HTML file or use Run Example to preview.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>QueryVerse</title>
  <style>
    body { font-family: system-ui, sans-serif; margin: 1.25rem; }
    .box { padding: .75rem; border: 1px solid #ccc; border-radius: 8px; margin: .5rem 0; }
    .muted { color: #666; }
    button { margin-right: .35rem; margin-top: .35rem; }
    input, select, textarea { margin: .25rem 0; }
    table { border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; }
    th, td { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: .4rem .55rem; text-align: left; }
    .hidden { display: none; }
    .row-odd { background: #f7f7f7; }
    .active { font-weight: 700; }
    .toast { background: #111; color: #fff; padding: .5rem .75rem; border-radius: 6px; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <form id="f" class="box">
    <input id="email" name="email" data-val="true" data-val-required="Email required" data-val-email="Invalid email">
    <span class="field-validation-valid" data-valmsg-for="email"></span>
    <button type="submit">Submit</button>
  </form>
  <p id="out" class="muted">Sketch only — validate plugin not loaded here</p>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<script>
$(function () {
  $('#f').on('submit', function (e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    var v = $('#email').val().trim();
    var ok = /.+@.+\..+/.test(v);
    $('[data-valmsg-for="email"]').text(ok ? '' : ($('#email').data('val-email') || 'Invalid'));
    $('#out').text(ok ? 'Would submit (unobtrusive would allow)' : 'Blocked — mimics validate');
  });
});
</script>
</body>
</html>

Run Example »

Edit the code below and click Run to see the result in Toolliyo’s live editor.

Code

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>QueryVerse</title>
  <style>
    body { font-family: system-ui, sans-serif; margin: 1.25rem; }
    .box { padding: .75rem; border: 1px solid #ccc; border-radius: 8px; margin: .5rem 0; }
    .muted { color: #666; }
    button { margin-right: .35rem; margin-top: .35rem; }
    input, select, textarea { margin: .25rem 0; }
    table { border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; }
    th, td { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: .4rem .55rem; text-align: left; }
    .hidden { display: none; }
    .row-odd { background: #f7f7f7; }
    .active { font-weight: 700; }
    .toast { background: #111; color: #fff; padding: .5rem .75rem; border-radius: 6px; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <form id="f" class="box">
    <input id="email" name="email" data-val="true" data-val-required="Email required" data-val-email="Invalid email">
    <span class="field-validation-valid" data-valmsg-for="email"></span>
    <button type="submit">Submit</button>
  </form>
  <p id="out" class="muted">Sketch only — validate plugin not loaded here</p>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<script>
$(function () {
  $('#f').on('submit', function (e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    var v = $('#email').val().trim();
    var ok = /.+@.+\..+/.test(v);
    $('[data-valmsg-for="email"]').text(ok ? '' : ($('#email').data('val-email') || 'Invalid'));
    $('#out').text(ok ? 'Would submit (unobtrusive would allow)' : 'Blocked — mimics validate');
  });
});
</script>
</body>
</html>

Result