Customizing error messages for HTML5 forms

Last update: June 24, 2024

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In HTML5 forms, out of the box, the error messages, and warnings have a fixed position and appearance (font and color), the error is displayed only for a selected field, and only one error is displayed.

The article provides the steps to customize HTML5 forms error messages so you can do the following:

  • change the appearance and position of error messages. You can make an error to appear at the top, bottom, and right of any field.
  • display error messages for multiple fields at any given moment.
  • display the error irrespective of whether a field is selected or not.

Customizing Error Messages 

Before customizing the error messages, download and extract the attached package (CustomErrorManager-1.0-SNAPSHOT.zip).

After extracting the package, open the CustomErrorManager-1.0-SNAPSHOT folder. It contains jcr_root and META-INF folders. These folders contain the CSS and .JS files required to customize the error message.

Get File

Customizing the position of error messages 

To customize the position of the error message, add a <div> tag for each error and warning field, position the <div> tag on the left or right, and apply css styles on the <div> tag. For detailed steps, see the procedure listed below:

  1. Navigate to the CustomErrorManager-1.0-SNAPSHOTfolder and open the etc\clientlibs\mf-custom-error-manager\CustomErrorManager\javascript folder.

  2. Open the customErrorManager.js file for editing. The markError function in the file accepts the following parameters:

    jqWidgetjqWidget is the handle for a widget.
    msgcontains the error message
    typedenotes whether it is an error or warning

  3. On the out of the box implementation, error messages appears on the right of the field. To make the error messages appear on the top use the following code.

    markError: function (jqWidget, msg, type) {
            var element = jqWidget.element,                                //Gives the div containing widget
                pos = $(element).offset(),                          //Calculates the position of the div in the view port
                                                                msgHeight = xfalib.view.util.TextMetrics.measureExtent(msg).height + 5;  //Calculating the height of the Error Message
                styles = {};
                styles.left = pos.left + "px";         // Assign the desired left position using pos.left. Here it is calculated for exact left of the field
                styles.top = pos.top - msgHeight + "px";  // Assign the desired top position using pos.top. Here it is calculated for top of the field
            if (type != "warning") {
                if(!jqWidget.errorDiv){
                                                                                //Adding the warning div if it is not present already
                    jqWidget.errorDiv=$("<div id='customError'></div>").appendTo('body');
                }
                jqWidget.$css(jqWidget.errorDiv.get(0), styles); // Applying the styles to the warning div
                jqWidget.errorDiv.text(msg).show();                     //Showing the warning message
            } else {
                if(!jqWidget.errorDiv){
                                                                                //Adding the error div if it is not present already
                    jqWidget.errorDiv=$("<div id='customWarning'></div>").appendTo('body');
                }
                jqWidget.$css(jqWidget.errorDiv.get(0), styles); // Applying the styles to the error div
                jqWidget.errorDiv.text(msg).show();                     //Showing the warning message
            }

        },

  4. Save and close the file.

  5. Navigate to the CustomErrorManager-1.0-SNAPSHOT folder and create an archive of jcr_root and META-INF folders. Rename the archive to CustomErrorManager-1.0-SNAPSHOT.zip.

  6. Use the Package Manager to upload and install the package.

Display error messages for multiple fields 

Ue the attached package to simultaneously display error messages for all the fields. To display a single error message, use the default profile.

Customizing the appearance of error messages. 

  1. Navigate to the etc\clientlibs\mf-custom-error-manager\CustomErrorManager\css folder.

  2. Open the file sample.css for editing. The css file contains 2 ids- #customError, #customWarning. You can use these ids to change various properties such as color and font size.

    Use the following code to change the font size and color of error/warning messages.

    #customError {
color: #0000FF; // it changes the color of Error Message
display:none;
position:absolute;
opacity:0.85;
font-size: 24px;  // it changes the font size of Error Message
z-index:5;
}

#customWarning {
color: #00FF00;  // it changes the color of Warning Message
display:none;
position:absolute;
opacity:0.85;
font-size: 18px;   // it changes the font size of Warning Message
z-index:5;
}

Save the changes.

  3. Save and close the file.

  4. Navigate to the CustomErrorManager-1.0-SNAPSHOT folder and create an archive of jcr_root and META-INF folders. Rename the archive to CustomErrorManager-1.0-SNAPSHOT.zip.

  5. Use the Package Manager to upload and install the package.

Render the form with the new profile. 

Out of the box, html5 forms use a default profile: https://&lt;server&gt;/content/xfaforms/profiles/default.html?contentRoot=&lt;xdp location&gt;&template=&lt;name of the xdp&gt;

To view a form with the custom error messages, render the form with error profile: https://&lt;server&gt;/content/xfaforms/profiles/error.html?contentRoot=&lt;xdp location&gt;&template=&lt;name of the xdp&gt;

NOTE
The attached package installs the error profile.

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