Using jquery validation plugin to validate multiselect box created using bootstrap multiselect plugin?

I am using jquery validation plugin and lately I had to add multi-select dropdown in my form. I used davidstutz bootstrap multiselect plugin. However, could not validate the multiselect box below is my html code , I submit with selecting a value from multiselect box without giving other form inputs even then form gets submitted,

<select name="franchisee_course" class="multiselect" multiple="multiple"  id="franchisee_course" size="1" placeholder="Courses">

             <?php 
                  foreach($courses as $course) {
                  echo "<option value=".$course['course_id']." >".$course['course_description']."</option>";
                  }
              ?>

      </select> 

and my calling multi-select,

$('.multiselect').multiselect({

          noneSelectedText: 'Select Courses',
          includeSelectAllOption: true,
          enableFiltering: true,
          filterPlaceholder: 'Search course'

        });

and these are my validation codes for multiselect,

$.validator.addMethod("needsSelection", function(value, element) {
               return $(element).multiselect("getChecked").length > 0;
          });

          $.validator.messages.needsSelection = 'Select Atleast One Course';


          franchisee_course: {

                needsSelection: true,
                required:true


      },
         ignore: ':hidden:not("#franchisee_course")', // I don't know what this line does

• jQuery

• twitter-bootstrap

• validation

• asked 8 years ago
• Gul Hafiz