<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Target</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="demo.css"> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/jquery/1.12.3/jquery.min.js"></script> <script src="../dist/jquery.validator.js?local=en"></script> </head> <body> <form class="form" data-validator-option="{timely:2, theme:'yellow_right'}"> <h3>Target to other input</h3> <div class="form-item"> <label class="label">Name</label> <input type="text" class="input-sm" name="firstName" data-target="#lastName" data-rule="required" placeholder="First Name"> <input type="text" class="input-sm" name="lastName" id="lastName" data-rule="required" placeholder="Last Name"> </div> <div class="form-item"> <button type="submit">Submit</button> </div> </form> <form class="form" data-validator-option="{timely:2, theme:'simple_right'}"> <h3>Target to "msg-box"</h3> <div class="form-item"> <input type="text" name="name" data-rule="Name:required" data-target="#holdMsg" placeholder="Name"> </div> <div class="form-item"> <button type="submit">Submit</button> <span class="msg-box" id="holdMsg"></span> </div> </form> <form class="form" data-validator-option="{timely:2}"> <h3>Target to a container</h3> <div id="msgContainer"></div> <div class="form-item"> <input type="text" name="name" data-rule="Name:required" data-target="#msgContainer"> </div> <div class="form-item"> <button type="submit">Submit</button> </div> </form> <form class="form" id="form4"> <h3>Dynamic message place.</h3> <div class="form-item"> <label class="label">Name</label> <input type="text" class="input-sm" name="firstName" data-rule="required" placeholder="First Name"> <input type="text" class="input-sm" name="lastName" data-rule="required" placeholder="Last Name"> </div> <div class="form-item"> <button type="submit">Submit</button> </div> </form> <script> $('#form4').validator({ timely:2, stopOnError: true, display: function(input) { return $(input).attr('placeholder'); }, target: function(input) { var $formitem = $(input).closest('.form-item'), $msgbox = $formitem.find('span.msg-box'); if (!$msgbox.length) { $msgbox = $('<span class="msg-box"></span>').appendTo($formitem); } return $msgbox; } }); </script> </body> </html>