Jquery validation: call equalTo method from a custom validation method - jquery-validate

Question

I want a validation method which will check that two fields are equal then hide one of them. At the moment I use equalTo to check they are equal. So I planned to add a validation method which delegates to equalTo and hides the field depending on the result.
The problem I have is that I cannot work out how to call equalTo on the correct instance of the validator. When I call it, I always see an error in equalTo, "this.settings is not defined". This is equalTo
// http://docs.jquery.com/Plugins/Validation/Methods/equalTo
equalTo: function( value, element, param ) {
// bind to the blur event of the target in order to revalidate whenever the target field is updated
// TODO find a way to bind the event just once, avoiding the unbind-rebind overhead
var target = $(param);
//error here
if ( this.settings.onfocusout ) {
target.unbind(".validate-equalTo").bind("blur.validate-equalTo", function() {
$(element).valid();
});
}
return value === target.val();
},
Here is my code.
// validate form
$.validator.addMethod("equalToAndHide", function(value, element, param) {
//this does not work
var result = $.validator.methods.equalTo.call(value, element, param);
if(result === true){
$(element).hide();
}
return result;
}, $.validator.format("Values must be equal_???"));
$('form').validate({
rules : {
confirmEmail : {
equalToAndHide : utils.byId("alternateEmail")
}
},
submitHandler : function(form) {
accordionAjax.post($(form));
}
});
I would prefer to leave equalTo as it is rather than override it and amend the call to this.settings, if possible.

Answer 1

You don't need to call the original equalTo from within your custom method... just write a whole new function using the original as your basis.
This is the default equalTo function...
function( value, element, param ) {
var target = $(param);
if ( this.settings.onfocusout ) {
target.unbind(".validate-equalTo").bind("blur.validate-equalTo", function() {
$(element).valid();
});
}
return value === target.val();
}
Put it inside your custom method and tweak it to suite your needs...
$.validator.addMethod("equalToAndHide", function(value, element, param) {
var target = $(param);
if ( this.settings.onfocusout ) {
target.unbind(".validate-equalTo").bind("blur.validate-equalTo", function() {
$(element).valid();
});
}
return value === target.val();
$('#whatever').hide();
}, $.validator.format("Values must be equal_???"));