title: JQuery validation plugin: $("#").validate() is not a function
body: <p>I am using jquery-1.4.2 library and jquery.validate.js plugin to validate a very simple form. In the head section, I have following code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/jquery-1.4.2.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
  &lt;script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/jquery.validate.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
  &lt;link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/ui-lightness/jquery-ui-1.8.2.custom.css"&gt;&lt;/link&gt;
  &lt;script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/jquery-ui-1.8.2.custom.min.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
  &lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt;
       $(document).ready(function(){
      // date pickers
      $('#birthdate').datepicker();
      $("#deliverydate").datepicker();
  
      //apply styles to buttons 
      $('input:button').button();
  
      // data validation
      $("#createAnimalForm").validate({
          debug: true,
          rules: {
              weight: {
                  required: true
              }
          },
          messages: {
              weight: {
                       required: "Please enter a numeric value for weight."
                      }
          }
      });
  
  });
  function createClicked(){
      $("#createAnimalForm").validate().form();
  }
  
  
  &lt;/script&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In the body section, I have defined the form and the input field to accept the weight value. The code from body is as follows:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;form id="createAnimalForm"&gt;
  &lt;table cellpadding="5px"&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;Weight:&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;input type="text" name="weight" id="weight"&gt;&lt;/input&gt;&amp;nbsp;gms&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td align="left"&gt;&lt;input type="button" onclick="createClicked();" id="createButton" name="createButton" value="Create Animal"&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/table&gt;
  &lt;/form&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I load the page in firefox, I get the following error in firebug:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$("#createAnimalForm").validate is not a function
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I searched on the net for a bit, but could not find any solution for this. I think I have the jquery library located at the correct location, and it appears that jquery-validation plugin is compatible with jquery-1.4.2. </p>
  
  <p>Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks,
  Nikhil.</p>