jQuery.validate and validating by class

Is it possible to validate an entire clas开发者_C百科s of elements in a form using jQuery.validate? I know that you can assign rules to elements by name, but can you select those elements by class as well? I have a form on my site that doesn't need anything except required rules, and it's a little clunky to have to type out EVERY single field, especially when dealing with the messages object!

Here's my code:

<div id="al_address" class="al_account-settings left">
<h2 class="gold alternate1">ADD A NEW ADDRESS</h2>
<form method="POST" action="#" >
    <table>
        <tr>
            <th><label for="name">* address name</label></th>
            <td><input type="text" class="al_required" name="name"></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th><label for="first_name">* first name</label></th>
            <td><input type="text" class="al_required" name="firstName"></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th><label for="last_name">* last name</label></th>
            <td><input type="text" class="al_required" name="lastName"></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th><label for="address1">* street address</label></th>
            <td><input type="text" class="al_required" name="address1"></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th><label for="address2">address 2</label></th>
            <td><input type="text" name="address2"></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th><label for="zip">* zip</label></th>
            <td><input type="text" name="zip" class="al_required"></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th><label for="city">* city</label></th>
            <td><input type="text" class="al_required" name="city"></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th><label for="state">* state</label></th>
            <td>
                <select name="state" class="al_required">
                    <option value="">Select a State</option>
                </select>
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <th><label for="country">* country</label></th>
            <td>
                <select name="country" class="al_required">
                    <option value="US">United States</option>
                </select>
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2" class="al_buttons">
                <button type="reset">CANCEL</button>
                <button type="submit" class="last">ADD</button>
            </td>
        </tr>
    </table>
</form>
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
    $('#al_address form').validate({
        rules: {
            name: 'required', first_name: 'required', last_name: 'required', address1: 'required', zip: 'required', city: 'required', state: 'required', country: 'required'
        },
        messages: {
            name: '- Required fields were left blank.'
        }
    });
</script>

As it stands, this will show the proper message for name but nothing else. Is it possible with jQuery.validate to just set the 'required' rule on a class, and use that class reference in messages to display a uniform message for required fields in the form?

---

The plug in provides a method for this, see the documentation for this. Then you could do:

$(".myClass").rules("add", {
 required:true
});

Find more moethods and options here.

---

you can add class="required" for each control to get required field validation ie

<tr>
    <th><label for="name">* address name</label></th>
    <td><input type="text" class="required" name="name"></td>
</tr>

<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
    $('#al_address form').validate({

    });
</script>