Spry Validation in Tabbed Panel

Question

I've created a form that has a number of sections which I
have separated out using a spry tabbed panel. So far, so good.
On one of the panels, however, is a select box that is
required, so I have used a spry validation widget to look after it.
Now, if the select box hasn't been used then and the submit button
is clicked while one of the other panels is open, because the
validation widget halts the form it makes it look as though nothing
has happened. The warning message is only visible when the correct
panel is open.
My question is this: how do I either (a) force the panel with
the error on to reopen or (b) make the error message show up
elsewhere on the page so that it is visible? I tried positioning it
absolutely above the whole panel but it still only shows up when
the relevant panel is oen.

Answer 1

I have actually added multiple tabbed panels inside of tabbed
panels as well as collapsible panels inside of tabbed panels and
vise versa. This works across all browsers (IE 6 & 7, FF 2,
Safari 2 & 3).
The key for me was to use <div style="clear: both"> (I
put a comment here to satisfy IE6) </div> at the bottom of
the tab, before the closing of the tab since I was using a lot of
floating within the tabbed panels.
If you share some code, I'm sure someone could give you a
more specific answer.