1. $("#reg-form").validate({
           rules: {
               email_address: {
                   required: true,
                   remote: {
                       url: "localhost/validate/email_address",
                       type: "post",
                       data: {
                           email_address: function() {
                             return $("#email_address").val();
                           }
                       }
                   }
                }
2.       }
3. });

now when connected to localhost/validate/email_address i want it to return different error messages depending on the constraint.

ie. my php method

1.     public function validate_email_address()
       {
           $request       = $this->get_request();
           $email_address = $request->post()->email_address;
          
           if ($request->is_ajax() && !empty($email_address))
           {
               $email = new Email_Address(array(
                   'value' => $email_address
               ));
              
               $user = $this->get_model('user:users');
              
               if (!$email->is_valid())
               {
                   echo 'Invalid email address';
               }
               else if ($user->email_address_registered($email_address))
               {
                   echo 'Email address already registered';
               }
               else
               {
                   echo 'true';
               }
           }
           else
           {
               // 404 error
           }
       }

is this possible please?...if so how?

thank you