JQuery validation: required( dependency-expression ) - jquery-plugins

Question

I want a field to become required only when a specific option is selected or a specific radio button is selected or when a specific string is entered in a text input field (All of the required( dependency-expression ) examples I can find assume that the dependency is whether an input is checked / unchecked or filled/unfilled in the case of text fields)
Here is an example of what I need, based on a radio section:
Marital Status (the required field):
<input name="status" id='status'type="radio" value="couple" checked="checked" />
<input name="status" id='status'type="radio" value="single male" />
<input name="status" id='status'type="radio" value="single female" />
Partners Name (the dependent field - required only when 'Couple' is selected from above)
<input name="partner" type="text" id="partner">
Example 2: Required field = Venue
<select name="venue" id="venue">
<option value="">Please select venue</option>
<option>London EC1</option>
<option>London E9</option>
<option>Birmingham</option>
etc.
Dependent field = user (only required for one of the above selections, say 'Birmingham')
<input name="user" type="text" id="user">
How do I adapt the example shown athttp://docs.jquery.com/Plugins/Validation/Methods/required#dependency-expression for the above situations?
$("#myform").validate({
rules: {
details: {
required: "#other:checked"
}
}, debug:true
});
$("#other").click(function() {
$("#details").valid();
});
I have tried:
user: {
required: "#venue:('birmingham')"
}
and
partner: {
required: "#status:('couple')"
}
but these have the effect of making user and partner required regardless of results in venue and status

Answer 1

For the first one, your radio inputs should have different id's:
<input name="status" id='statusCouple' type="radio" value="couple" checked="checked" />
<input name="status" id='statusSingleMale' type="radio" value="single male" />
<input name="status" id='statusSignleFemale' type="radio" value="single female" />
Then your rule can look like this:
partner: {
required: "#statusCouple:checked"
}
For the second one, just make your rule like this:
user: {
required: function(element) { return $("#venue").val() == 'Birmingham'; }
}
Should do the trick.