$("#EditClient-Form").data("validator").form();

https://github.com/jquery-validation/jquery-validation/blob/master/src/core.js#L15

以下这段代码把插件作为validator塞到data里面

// Check if a validator for this form was already created
        var validator = $.data( this[ 0 ], "validator" );
        if ( validator ) {
            return validator;
        }

https://jqueryvalidation.org/Validator.form/

Validator.form()

Description: Validates the form, returns true if it is valid, false otherwise.

• Validator.form()

  • This method does not accept any arguments.

Example:

Triggers form validation programmatically.

var validator = $( "#myform" ).validate();
validator.form();

https://plugins.jquery.com/validation/

https://github.com/jquery-validation/jquery-validation/blob/master/src/core.js#L436

// https://jqueryvalidation.org/Validator.form/
        form: function() {
            this.checkForm();
            $.extend( this.submitted, this.errorMap );
            this.invalid = $.extend( {}, this.errorMap );
            if ( !this.valid() ) {
                $( this.currentForm ).triggerHandler( "invalid-form", [ this ] );
            }
            this.showErrors();
            return this.valid();
        },

checkForm: function() {
            this.prepareForm();
            for ( var i = 0, elements = ( this.currentElements = this.elements() ); elements[ i ]; i++ ) {
                this.check( elements[ i ] );
            }
            return this.valid();
        },

调试的时候可以设置断点，查看errorList里面是哪一个元素的验证出错了

valid: function() {
            return this.size() === 0;
        },
size: function() {
            return this.errorList.length;
        },

formatAndAdd: function( element, rule ) {
            var message = this.defaultMessage( element, rule );

            this.errorList.push( {
                message: message,
                element: element,
                method: rule.method
            } );

            this.errorMap[ element.name ] = message;
            this.submitted[ element.name ] = message;
        },

https://github.com/jquery-validation/jquery-validation/blob/master/src/core.js#L889

defaultShowErrors: function() {
            var i, elements, error;
            for ( i = 0; this.errorList[ i ]; i++ ) {
                error = this.errorList[ i ];
                if ( this.settings.highlight ) {
                    this.settings.highlight.call( this, error.element, this.settings.errorClass, this.settings.validClass );
                }
                this.showLabel( error.element, error.message );
            }
            if ( this.errorList.length ) {
                this.toShow = this.toShow.add( this.containers );
            }
            if ( this.settings.success ) {
                for ( i = 0; this.successList[ i ]; i++ ) {
                    this.showLabel( this.successList[ i ] );
                }
            }
            if ( this.settings.unhighlight ) {
                for ( i = 0, elements = this.validElements(); elements[ i ]; i++ ) {
                    this.settings.unhighlight.call( this, elements[ i ], this.settings.errorClass, this.settings.validClass );
                }
            }
            this.toHide = this.toHide.not( this.toShow );
            this.hideErrors();
            this.addWrapper( this.toShow ).show();
        },

showLabel: function( element, message ) {
            var place, group, errorID, v,
                error = this.errorsFor( element ),
                elementID = this.idOrName( element ),
                describedBy = $( element ).attr( "aria-describedby" );

            if ( error.length ) {

                // Refresh error/success class
                error.removeClass( this.settings.validClass ).addClass( this.settings.errorClass );

                // Replace message on existing label
                error.html( message );
            } else {

                // Create error element
                error = $( "<" + this.settings.errorElement + ">" )
                    .attr( "id", elementID + "-error" )
                    .addClass( this.settings.errorClass )
                    .html( message || "" );

                // Maintain reference to the element to be placed into the DOM
                place = error;
                if ( this.settings.wrapper ) {

                    // Make sure the element is visible, even in IE
                    // actually showing the wrapped element is handled elsewhere
                    place = error.hide().show().wrap( "<" + this.settings.wrapper + "/>" ).parent();
                }
                if ( this.labelContainer.length ) {
                    this.labelContainer.append( place );
                } else if ( this.settings.errorPlacement ) {
                    this.settings.errorPlacement.call( this, place, $( element ) );
                } else {
                    place.insertAfter( element );
                }

                // Link error back to the element
                if ( error.is( "label" ) ) {

                    // If the error is a label, then associate using 'for'
                    error.attr( "for", elementID );

                    // If the element is not a child of an associated label, then it's necessary
                    // to explicitly apply aria-describedby
                } else if ( error.parents( "label[for='" + this.escapeCssMeta( elementID ) + "']" ).length === 0 ) {
                    errorID = error.attr( "id" );

                    // Respect existing non-error aria-describedby
                    if ( !describedBy ) {
                        describedBy = errorID;
                    } else if ( !describedBy.match( new RegExp( "\b" + this.escapeCssMeta( errorID ) + "\b" ) ) ) {

                        // Add to end of list if not already present
                        describedBy += " " + errorID;
                    }
                    $( element ).attr( "aria-describedby", describedBy );

                    // If this element is grouped, then assign to all elements in the same group
                    group = this.groups[ element.name ];
                    if ( group ) {
                        v = this;
                        $.each( v.groups, function( name, testgroup ) {
                            if ( testgroup === group ) {
                                $( "[name='" + v.escapeCssMeta( name ) + "']", v.currentForm )
                                    .attr( "aria-describedby", error.attr( "id" ) );
                            }
                        } );
                    }
                }
            }
            if ( !message && this.settings.success ) {
                error.text( "" );
                if ( typeof this.settings.success === "string" ) {
                    error.addClass( this.settings.success );
                } else {
                    this.settings.success( error, element );
                }
            }
            this.toShow = this.toShow.add( error );
        },

 https://jqueryvalidation.org/validate/

validate( [options ] ) Returns: Validator