ckeditor plugin problem

ckeditor plugin problem

I'm developing a CMS app which is using Ajax to work with the back end server.  In order to get the ckeditor components working I've used the form plugin.  Updates are working OK.

I'm providing a button 'Clear this entry' which will send a request to empty a data field on the database, however I want the equivalent screen field to be cleared and that is a ckeditor instance.

Is there any way I can access the ckeditor data area?

What I'm wanting is the equivalent of $("#editor").val('');

Parts of the code include...

    $.ckeditor.config = {
        path: '../ckeditor/',
        resize_maxWidth : 480,
        ...etc...
    };

    $('textarea.edit').ckeditor(  );

and

      <textarea class='edit' cols='60' id='editor' name='value' rows='10'>$value</textarea>