I have a javascript function written to validate a field on my form. This function is supposed to make sure the field is not empty, does not exceed the limit of 35 characters and only contains alphabetic characters and a hyphen(-). I had code to make sure the field is not empty and that it does not exceed 35 characters which worked fine but i added code to validate the field to the usable characters and i tested it out by leaving the field empty to make sure that still worked but when i hit the submit button the function didn't seem to validate at all, didn't give me an alert and just submitted. Here is my code:

function validateFamily()

{

var family=document.getElementById('family');

var stringf = document.getElementById('family').value;

if (family.value==)

    {

     alert(Family name must be filled out);

     return false;

    }

else if (document.getElementById('family').value.length > 35)

    {

        alert(Family name cannot be more than 35 characters);

        return false;

    }

else if (/[^a-zA-Z-]/.test( stringf ))

    {

        alert(Family name can only contain alphanumeric characters and hypehns(-))

        return false;

    }

    return true;

}



<form name=eoiform method=POST action=<?php echo $_SERVER[PHP_SELF];?> id=eoi onsubmit=return validateFamily() && validateGiven() && validateMaleFemale() && validDate() && validateAddress() && validatePost() && validateParent() && validateWork() && validateHome() && validateMob() && validateCheckBoxes();>



<b>Student's Family Name</b> 

<br>

<input type=text id=family name=family /><?php echo $strmsgf; ?>



<input type=submit name=submit id=submit value=submit />



</form>

Could anyone show me how to fix my code?