Validation plugin: How to validate various fields with same name resp. how to set rules based on classes rather than name attributes?

Validation plugin: How to validate various fields with same name resp. how to set rules based on classes rather than name attributes?

Hi,

I have several select fields with the same name attribute I cannot change as they have to be mapped to an array.

Now I would like to use the validation plugin to validate each of these select fields, but once I set one field all other fields are considered valid too despite of not having selected anything.

I have found two discussions that never finished this topic:
http://forum.jquery.com/topic/jquery-validate-validating-on-input-id-instead-of-name
http://forum.jquery.com/topic/jquery-validate-setting-rules-based-on-id-instead-of-name

Does anyone know how to set a rule for a class instead of a name attribute?

Thanks for your help!