Calling a jQuery widget method

Calling a jQuery widget method


Hi,
I am trying to create a plugin for creating modals with jQuery UI
doing:
$.widget("ui.modal", {
    _init: function(){
        $(this.element).each(function(){
            var offset = $(this).offset();
            $(this).data("modal",$("<div/>"));
            $(this).data("modal")
            .width($(this).width())
            .height($(this).height())
            .css({
                left: offset.left,
                top: offset.top
            })
            .addClass("modal")
            .appendTo(document.body);
            $(this).data("modal")
        });
    },
    destroy: function(){
        $(this.element).each(function(){
            if ( $(this).data("modal") ){
                $(this).data("modal").remove();
                $(this).data("modal",null);
            }
        });
    }
});
After I have done $("#myElement").modal(), I'd like to destroy it from
outside the widget, but I can't figure out how to call my method
destroy().
I tried $("#myElement").modal("destroy") without success (tried with
just an alert message in the destroy function, and it didn't work
either).
Can you help?
Thanks!