[jQuery] passing a value to popup, reading from db, & form validation

[Zeeshan]

Hello, fellow jQ people!

I have three questions about jQuery.

1) I have a web form in a jQuery popup. For that web form to function,
I need to pass a value to it.

Following code demonstrates how I am processing the form using jQuery:


Code:
$(document).ready(function(){
    $(".addbutton").click(function(){ //add button in HTML
        centerPopup(); // works fine
        loadPopup(); //works fine
    });

    $("form#edituser").submit(function() {

        usrObj.act   =  $('#modaction').val();

        if (usrObj.act == 'add_user') {

            usrObj.usr   =  $('#newusername').val();

            var dataString = 'newusername='+ usrObj.usr;


        $.ajax({
            type: "POST",
            url: "showusers.php",
            data: dataString,
            complete: function(){
                $('form#edituser').hide();
                $('div.success_form').show();
                $('div.success_form').fadeOut("slow",refreshPage(10));
                //$('div.success_form').fadeOut("slow",$
('#footer').animate({scrollTop:0}, 'slow').refreshPage(10));
            }
        });
        return false;
    });
});



Following code is for the popup div:

Code:
printf ('<div class="ajaxpopup">');
someFunc($var);
printf ('</div>');


So, there are several buttons with a different parameter each. When
clicked, they open the same div.ajaxpopup.

I somehow need to pass a parameter to someFunc(), whcih is in <div
class="ajaxpopup">

For someFunc() to work it needs to read $var.

Prior to AJAX, I had popup content on a separate page. So, I would use
a web form with POST action instead of .addbutton.

So, my question is how do I pass a var from parent page to child popup
so it can then be passed to a php function?

2) For the form described, users might need to add a new user name.
So, if the user name already exists in db I want to send an error
message back to the popup saying "user can't be added as it already
exists"

I am pretty sure it can be possible with jQuery. I tried searching
online but I could not find any helpful example. Can you please
demonstrate it.

3) I am using the following conditional statements to validate inputs:

Code:
if (usrObj.usr == "" && usrObj.pwd == "" && usrObj.pwdc == "" &&
usrObj.company == "") {
                $("label#company_blank").show();
                $("label#usr_name_blank").show();
                $("label#pwd_blank").show();
                $("label#pwdc_blank").show();
                $("#newusername").focus();
                return false;
            }


            if (usrObj.usr == "" && usrObj.pwd == "" && usrObj.pwdc ==
"") {
                $("label#usr_name_blank").show();
                $("label#pwd_blank").show();
                $("label#pwdc_blank").show();
                $("#newusername").focus();
                return false;
            }

            if (usrObj.pwd == "" && usrObj.pwdc == "") {
                $("label#usr_name_blank").hide();
                $("label#pwd_blank").show();
                $("label#pwdc_blank").show();
                $("#newpassword").focus();
                return false;
            }

            if (usrObj.usr == "" && usrObj.pwdc == "") {
                $("label#pwd_blank").hide();
                $("label#usr_name_blank").show();
                $("label#pwdc_blank").show();
                $("#newusername").focus();
                return false;
            }

            if (usrObj.usr == "" && usrObj.pwd == "") {
                $("label#pwdc_blank").hide();
                $("label#usr_name_blank").show();
                $("label#pwd_blank").show();
                $("#newusername").focus();
                return false;
            }

            if (usrObj.company == "") {
                $("label#company_blank").show();
                $("label#usr_name_blank").hide();
                $("label#pwd_blank").hide();
                $("label#pwdc_blank").hide();
                $("#newusername").focus();
                return false;
            }

            if (usrObj.usr == "") {
                $("label#usr_name_blank").show();
                $("label#pwd_blank").hide();
                $("label#pwdc_blank").hide();
                $("label#company_blank").hide();
                $("#newusername").focus();
                return false;
            }

            if (usrObj.pwd == "") {
                $("label#pwd_blank").show();
                $("label#usr_name_blank").hide();
                $("label#pwdc_blank").hide();
                $("label#company_blank").hide();
                $("#newpassword").focus();
                return false;
            }

            if (usrObj.pwdc == "") {
                $("label#pwdc_blank").show();
                $("label#pwd_blank").hide();
                $("label#usr_name_blank").hide();
                $("label#company_blank").hide();
                $("#newpasswordconfirm").focus();
                return false;
            }



It turns out an increasing number of input text fields quadruples
(roughly speaking) the number of conditional statements required for
validation. So, is there a better way to validate form inputs.


Thank you very much for your kind help!