Safecracker / zoovisitor required category field

Question

I am using zoo visitor to register members onto a site. Some member groups are required to select their country which is saved in their entry as a category.

There is also a region field which is a sub category list linked to the country.

I have all the required field errors set inline but am not sure how I would require the country category (and if possible the region if it was present)

Here is the relevant section of my code :

{exp:zoo_visitor:registration_form return='/register/success' allowed_groups="7|8" datepicker="yes" error_handling="inline" rules:country="required"}
<label for="mobile" class="required">Mobile number:</label>
<input type="text" name="mobile" id="mobile" value="{mobile}" />
<span class="error">&nbsp;{error:mobile}</span><br>

<label for="country_of_residence" class="required">Country:</label>
<select name="category[]" id="country" class="quicksearch region_optional"> 
    <option value="">Select Country</option>  
    {exp:channel:categories category_group="1" parent_only="yes" style="linear" parse="inward"}
    <option data-name="{category_name}" value="{category_id}">{category_name}</option>
    {/exp:channel:categories}</select> 
    <br><span class="error">&nbsp;{error:country}</span>

<label for="regions" class="required">Region:</label>       
<select name="category[]" id="regions" class="quicksearch"> 
    <option value="">Select Region</option>
    {exp:channel:categories disable="category_fields" style="linear"}
    {if parent_id == '0'}{if count != '1'}</optgroup>{/if}<optgroup label="{category_name}">{/if}
    {if parent_id != '0'}<option value="{category_id}">{category_name}</option>{/if}
    {/exp:channel:categories}
    </select> <br>

{/exp:zoo_visitor:registration_form}

Answer 1

As inline error handling works for channel's custom fields and native fields like Title, URL title but not for category.

You should show global error messages for it like

{global_errors}{error}{/global_errors}

Hope it would help you.

Answer 2

Thanks for the suggestestions. I have decided to use jquery validation on the form instead. i think it will give me beter control over the the output.

http://github.com/posabsolute/jQuery-Validation-Engine

Demo: http://www.position-relative.net/creation/formValidator/