Make the DropDwonList Selection Required

Updated on Dec 10, 2025

Environment

Product	Progress® Kendo UI® DropDownList for jQuery
Operating System	Windows 10 64bit
Visual Studio Version	Visual Studio 2017
Preferred Language	JavaScript

Description

How can I make the selection in a Kendo UI DropDownList required?

Solution

The DropDownList enables you to initialize it by using the input or the select element. If the selection from the DropDownList is mandatory, initialize it from an input or select element with a required attribute. The following example uses the Kendo UI Validator to display the validation message.

    <form id="myForm" action="someAction" method="post">
      <input id="ddl" name="color" required/>
    </form>
    <button id="submitBtn" type="submit"  class="k-button">Submit</button>

    <script>
      $("#ddl").kendoDropDownList({
        dataTextField: "text",
        dataValueField: "value",
        dataSource: [
          { text: "Black", value: "1" },
          { text: "Orange", value: "2" },
          { text: "Grey", value: "3" }
        ],
        optionLabel: "Select an option",
      });

      $("#submitBtn").click(function () {
          var validator = $("#myForm").kendoValidator().data('kendoValidator');
          validator.validate();
      });
    </script>

See Also

• JavaScript API Reference of the DropDownList
• Automatically Adjust the Width of a DropDownList
• Create DropDownLists with Long Items
• Detect Wrapper Focus Events
• Move the Group Label on Top of Items
• Prevent Popup Closure on Scroll
• Remove Items
• Set DataSource Dynamically
• Update MVVM Bound Models on Load