Problems with Form_Validation and Upload LIbraries

[eluser]Sheikh Aman Alam[/eluser]
Hello.
i was wondering to know if there is a way to valida that-
a space wasn't put in the form field that has been posted.

i can use "alpha_dash", but i want to allow dot(.) and @ as well.

theres a segment in user guide that tells u can use php functions as validation function/rules too.
how to do that?


second thing, iam using upload library to upload images.
amazing library!
but is there any way to ignore the error if the user hasn't uploaded any image?
it makes the user to upload the image as a mandatory field, while that is not a requirement.

Please assist.