Validation
Bootstrap Validation
Note: This documentation is for an older version of Bootstrap (v.4). A
newer version is available for Bootstrap 5. We recommend migrating to the latest version of our product - Material Design for
Bootstrap 5.
Go to docs v.5
Provide valuable, actionable feedback to your users with HTML5 form validation – available in all our supported browsers. Choose from the browser default validation feedback, or implement custom messages with our built-in classes and starter JavaScript.
Note: For advanced users we recommend using custom validation described in this tutorial because styles as native browser defaults are not announced to screen readers.
How it works
Here’s how form validation works with Bootstrap:
- HTML form validation is applied via CSS’s two pseudo-classes,
:invalid
and:valid
. It applies to<input>
,<select>
, and<textarea>
elements. - Bootstrap scopes the
:invalid
and:valid
styles to their parent.was-validated
class, usually applied to the<form>
. Otherwise, any required field without a value shows up as invalid when a page is loaded. This way, you may choose when to activate them (typically after the form submission is attempted). - To reset the appearance of the form (for instance, in the case of dynamic form submissions using AJAX), remove
the
.was-validated
class from the<form>
again after submission. - As a fallback,
.is-invalid
and.is-valid
classes may be used instead of the pseudo-classes for server-side validation. They do not require a.was-validated
parent class. - Due to constraints in how CSS works, we cannot (at present) apply styles to a
<label>
that comes before a form control in the DOM without the use of custom JavaScript. - All modern browsers support the constraint validation API, a series of JavaScript methods for validating form controls.
- Feedback messages may utilize the browser defaults (different for each browser, and unstylable via CSS) or our custom feedback styles with additional HTML and CSS.
- You may provide custom validity messages with
setCustomValidity()
in JavaScript.
With that in mind, examine the following demos for our custom form validation styles, optional server-side classes, and browser defaults.
Custom styles
For custom Bootstrap form validation messages, you’ll need to add the novalidate
boolean attribute to your <form>
. This disables the browser default feedback tooltips, but still
provides access to the form validation APIs in JavaScript. Try to submit the form below; our JavaScript will
intercept the submit button and relay feedback to you.
When attempting to submit, you’ll see the :invalid
and :valid
styles applied to your form controls.
Browser defaults
Not interested in custom validation feedback messages or writing JavaScript to change form behaviors? That's fine, you can use the browser defaults. Try submitting the form below. Depending on your browser and OS, you’ll see a slightly different style of feedback.
While these feedback styles cannot be styled with CSS, you can still customize the feedback text through JavaScript.
Server side
We recommend using client-side validation, but in case you require server side, you can
indicate invalid and valid form fields with .is-invalid
and .is-valid
. Note that .invalid-feedback
is also supported by these classes.
Supported elements
Our example forms show native textual <input>
s above, but form
validation styles are available for our custom form controls, as well.
Tooltips
If your form layout allows it, you can swap the .{valid|invalid}-feedback
classes for .{valid|invalid}-tooltip
classes to display validation feedback in a styled tooltip. Be
sure to have a parent with position: relative
to it for tooltip positioning. In the example below,
our
column classes have this already, but your project may require an alternative setup.
DatePicker Validation MDB Pro component"
Material Select Validation MDB Pro component"