using jquery how do I validate individual elements and show the relevant error message in the Validation Summary

Question

I have a form that has seperate divs that are shown and hidden as the user progresses down the page.

The submit is only down at the bottom of the page.

Each div has a button that calls a javascript function. In the function I want to only validate the elements within that div.

I have tried the validate.element("#txtUserName") and that does validate the specific elements, but then does not show the validation summary.

I have also tried $("#frm").validate().form(), but that validated everything on the form - so divs the user hadn't even reached yet.

Thanks.