Jquery Check for selected option ignoring one option

Question

I have an page with a selection box, the first option of which is please choose, I need to ensure the user has made a selection ignoring the first option.

Answer 1

Give the first option a value "0":

<select id="#myselectionbox">
    <option value="0">Please select</option>
    ...
</select>

and check the selected value:

if ($("#myselectionbox").val() != "0") {
   // ok
}

Answer 2

You could use something like this:

if ($("#yourselectid").val() == "Please ignore") {
  alert("You must select another option.");
}

Answer 3

You can use .selectedIndex (faster) or .index() for this:

if($("#selectID")[0].selectedIndex == 0) {
  alert("Please choose something");
}
//or no jQuery at all:
if(document.getElementById("selectID").selectedIndex == 0) {

Or the .index() of the selected <option>, much slower but works:

if($("#selectID :selected").index() == 0) {
  alert("Please choose something");
}