I don't think you can, and CSS is supposed to describe how the page looks not what it does, so even if you could, it's not really how you should be using it.
Perhaps you should think about using JQuery to apply common functionality to your form components?
As others have answered, there is no current way to add maxlength directly to a CSS class.
However, this creative solution can achieve what you are looking for.
I have the jQuery in a file named maxLengths.js which I reference in site (site.master for ASP)
run the snippet to see it in action, works well.
jquery, css, html:
$(function () {
$(".maxLenAddress1").keypress(function (event) {
if ($(this).val().length == 5) { /* obv 5 is too small for an address field, just want to use as an example though */
return false;
} else {
return true;
}
});
});
.maxLenAddress1{} /* this is here mostly for intellisense usage, but can be altered if you like */
The advantage of using this: if it is decided the max length for this type of field needs to be pushed out or in across your entire application you can change it in one spot. Comes in handy for field lengths for things like customer codes, full name fields, email fields, any field common across your application.