How to set custom validation messages for HTML forms?

Question

I've got the following HTML form: http://jsfiddle.net/nfgfP/

<form id="form" onsubmit="return(login())">
<input name="username" placeholder="Username" required />
<input name="pass"  type="password" placeholder="Password" required/>
<br/>Remember me: <input type="checkbox" name="remember" value="true" /><br/>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Log In"/>

Currently when I hit enter when they're both blank, a popup box appears saying "Please fill out this field". How would I change that default message to "This field cannot be left blank"?

The type password field's error message is simply *****. To recreate this give the username a value and hit submit.

Answer 1

Here is some code to display a custom error message:

<input type="text" id="username" required placeholder="Enter Name"
       oninvalid="this.setCustomValidity('Enter User Name Here')"
       oninput="this.setCustomValidity('')"/>

This part is important because it hides the error message when the user inputs new data:

oninput="setCustomValidity('')"

Note: the this keyword is not required for inline event handlers, but you may want to use it anyway for consistency.

Answer 2

Use setCustomValidity:

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {
    var elements = document.getElementsByTagName("INPUT");
    for (var i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {
        elements[i].oninvalid = function(e) {
            e.target.setCustomValidity("");
            if (!e.target.validity.valid) {
                e.target.setCustomValidity("This field cannot be left blank");
            }
        };
        elements[i].oninput = function(e) {
            e.target.setCustomValidity("");
        };
    }
})

I changed to vanilla JavaScript from Mootools as suggested by @itpastorn in the comments, but you should be able to work out the Mootools equivalent if necessary.

If setCustomValidity is set to anything other than the empty string it will cause the field to be considered invalid; therefore you must clear it before testing validity, you can't just set it and forget.

As pointed out in @thomasvdb's comment below, you need to clear the custom validity in some event outside of invalid otherwise there may be an extra pass through the oninvalid handler to clear it.

Answer 3

It's very simple to control custom messages with the help of HTML5 event oninvalid

Here is code:

<input id="UserID"  type="text" required="required"
       oninvalid="this.setCustomValidity('Witinnovation')"
       onvalid="this.setCustomValidity('')">

This is most important:

onvalid="this.setCustomValidity('')"

Answer 4

Note: This no longer works in Chrome, not tested in other browsers. See edits below. This answer is being left here for historical reference.

If you feel that the validation string really should not be set by code, you can set you input element's title attribute to read "This field cannot be left blank". (Works in Chrome 10)

title="This field should not be left blank."

See http://jsfiddle.net/kaleb/nfgfP/8/

And in Firefox, you can add this attribute:

x-moz-errormessage="This field should not be left blank."

Edit

This seems to have changed since I originally wrote this answer. Now adding a title does not change the validity message, it just adds an addendum to the message. The fiddle above still applies.

Edit 2

Chrome now does nothing with the title attribute as of Chrome 51. I am not sure in which version this changed.

Answer 5

It's very simple to control custom messages with the help of the HTML5 oninvalid event

Here is the code:

User ID 
<input id="UserID"  type="text" required 
       oninvalid="this.setCustomValidity('User ID is a must')">

Answer 6

By setting and unsetting the setCustomValidity in the right time, the validation message will work flawlessly.

<input name="Username" required 
oninvalid="this.setCustomValidity('Username cannot be empty.')" 
onchange="this.setCustomValidity('')" type="text" />

I used onchange instead of oninput which is more general and occurs when the value is changed in any condition even through JavaScript.

Answer 7

I have made a small library to ease changing and translating the error messages. You can even change the texts by error type which is currently not available using title in Chrome or x-moz-errormessage in Firefox. Go check it out on GitHub, and give feedback.

It's used like:

<input type="email" required data-errormessage-value-missing="Please input something">

There's a demo available at jsFiddle.

Answer 8

Try this one, its better and tested:

    function InvalidMsg(textbox) {
        if (textbox.value === '') {
            textbox.setCustomValidity('Required email address');
        } else if (textbox.validity.typeMismatch){
            textbox.setCustomValidity('please enter a valid email address');
        } else {
           textbox.setCustomValidity('');
        }

        return true;
    }

<form id="myform">
    <input id="email" 
           oninvalid="InvalidMsg(this);" 
           oninput="InvalidMsg(this);"
           name="email"  
           type="email" 
           required="required" />
    <input type="submit" />
</form>

Demo:

http://jsfiddle.net/patelriki13/Sqq8e/

Answer 9

The easiest and cleanest way I've found is to use a data attribute to store your custom error. Test the node for validity and handle the error by using some custom html.

le javascript

if(node.validity.patternMismatch)
        {
            message = node.dataset.patternError;
        }

and some super HTML5

<input type="text" id="city" name="city" data-pattern-error="Please use only letters for your city." pattern="[A-z ']*" required>

Answer 10

The solution for preventing Google Chrome error messages on input each symbol:

<p>Click the 'Submit' button with empty input field and you will see the custom error message. Then put "-" sign in the same input field.</p>
<form method="post" action="#">
  <label for="text_number_1">Here you will see browser's error validation message on input:</label><br>
  <input id="test_number_1" type="number" min="0" required="true"
         oninput="this.setCustomValidity('')"
         oninvalid="this.setCustomValidity('This is my custom message.')"/>
  <input type="submit"/>
</form>

<form method="post" action="#">
  <p></p>
  <label for="text_number_1">Here you will see no error messages on input:</label><br>
  <input id="test_number_2" type="number" min="0" required="true"
         oninput="(function(e){e.setCustomValidity(''); return !e.validity.valid && e.setCustomValidity(' ')})(this)"
         oninvalid="this.setCustomValidity('This is my custom message.')"/>
  <input type="submit"/>
</form>

Answer 11

I have a simpler vanilla js only solution:

For checkboxes:

document.getElementById("id").oninvalid = function () {
    this.setCustomValidity(this.checked ? '' : 'My message');
};

For inputs:

document.getElementById("id").oninvalid = function () {
    this.setCustomValidity(this.value ? '' : 'My message');
};

Answer 12

If your error message is a single one, then try below.

<input oninvalid="this.setCustomValidity('my error message')"
       oninput="this.setCustomValidity('')">  <!--  don't forget it. -->

To handle multiple errors, try below

<input oninput="this.setCustomValidity('')">
<script>
inputElem.addEventListener("invalid", ()=>{
    if (inputElem.validity.patternMismatch) {
      return inputElem.setCustomValidity('my error message')
    }
    return inputElem.setCustomValidity('') // default message
})
</script>

Example

You can test for input illegal filename or valueMissing.

<form>
<input pattern="[^\\/:\x22*?<>|]+"
       placeholder="input file name"       
       oninput="this.setCustomValidity('')"
       required
>
  <input type="submit">
</form>

<script>
  const form = document.querySelector("form")

  const inputElem = document.querySelector(`input`)

  inputElem.addEventListener("invalid", ()=>{   
    if (inputElem.validity.patternMismatch) {
      return inputElem.setCustomValidity('Illegal Filename Characters \\/:\x22*?<>|')
    }
    return inputElem.setCustomValidity('') // return default message according inputElem.validity.{badInput, customError, tooLong, valueMissing ...}
  })

  form.onsubmit = () => {
    return false
  }
</script>

• ValidityState

Answer 13

Okay, oninvalid works well but it shows error even if user entered valid data. So I have used below to tackle it, hope it will work for you as well,

oninvalid="this.setCustomValidity('Your custom message.')" onkeyup="setCustomValidity('')"

Answer 14

Adapting Salar's answer to JSX and React, I noticed that React Select doesn't behave just like an <input/> field regarding validation. Apparently, several workarounds are needed to show only the custom message and to keep it from showing at inconvenient times.

I've raised an issue here, if it helps anything. Here is a CodeSandbox with a working example, and the most important code there is reproduced here:

Hello.js

import React, { Component } from "react";
import SelectValid from "./SelectValid";

export default class Hello extends Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <form>
        <SelectValid placeholder="this one is optional" />
        <SelectValid placeholder="this one is required" required />
        <input
          required
          defaultValue="foo"
          onChange={e => e.target.setCustomValidity("")}
          onInvalid={e => e.target.setCustomValidity("foo")}
        />
        <button>button</button>
      </form>
    );
  }
}

SelectValid.js

import React, { Component } from "react";
import Select from "react-select";
import "react-select/dist/react-select.css";

export default class SelectValid extends Component {
  render() {
    this.required = !this.props.required
      ? false
      : this.state && this.state.value ? false : true;
    let inputProps = undefined;
    let onInputChange = undefined;
    if (this.props.required) {
      inputProps = {
        onInvalid: e => e.target.setCustomValidity(this.required ? "foo" : "")
      };
      onInputChange = value => {
        this.selectComponent.input.input.setCustomValidity(
          value
            ? ""
            : this.required
              ? "foo"
              : this.selectComponent.props.value ? "" : "foo"
        );
        return value;
      };
    }
    return (
      <Select
        onChange={value => {
          this.required = !this.props.required ? false : value ? false : true;
          let state = this && this.state ? this.state : { value: null };
          state.value = value;
          this.setState(state);
          if (this.props.onChange) {
            this.props.onChange();
          }
        }}
        value={this && this.state ? this.state.value : null}
        options={[{ label: "yes", value: 1 }, { label: "no", value: 0 }]}
        placeholder={this.props.placeholder}
        required={this.required}
        clearable
        searchable
        inputProps={inputProps}
        ref={input => (this.selectComponent = input)}
        onInputChange={onInputChange}
      />
    );
  }
}

Answer 15

const username= document.querySelector('#username');
const submit=document.querySelector('#submit');

submit.addEventListener('click',()=>{
    if(username.validity.typeMismatch){
        username.setCustomValidity('Please enter User Name');
    }else{
        username.setCustomValidity('');
    }
if(pass.validity.typeMismatch){
        pass.setCustomValidity('Please enter Password');
    }else{
        pass.setCustomValidity('');
    }

})

Answer 16

For a totaly custom check logic:

$(document).ready(function() {

  $('#form').on('submit', function(e) {
    if ($('#customCheck').val() != 'apple') {
      $('#customCheck')[0].setCustomValidity('Custom error here! "apple" is the magic word');
      $('#customCheck')[0].reportValidity();
      e.preventDefault();
    }
  });

  $('#customCheck').on('input', function() {
    $('#customCheck')[0].setCustomValidity('');
  });


});

input {
  display: block;
  margin-top: 15px;
}

input[type="text"] {
  min-width: 250px;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<form id="form">
  <input type="text" placeholder="dafault check with 'required' TAG" required/>
  <input type="text" placeholder="custom check for word 'apple'" id="customCheck" />
  <input type="submit">
</form>

Answer 17

Can be easily handled by just putting 'title' with the field:

<input type="text" id="username" required title="This field can not be empty"  />