generic $(...).val() wrapper for ui widgets ? Introspection ?

generic $(...).val() wrapper for ui widgets ? Introspection ?

Hi,

Most UI widget I consider using and implementing in my apps intend to provide a nicer way to represent form elements (compared to native HTML). Hence, they represent a _value_ using various visual elements (ex: color picker for rgb values).

The val() method won't work on widgets though. This makes generic coding much harder because I have to know how is implemented a given form value under the hood (i.e. know which widget has been loaded to replace the native form element, and figure out how to interact with this widget to set/get value)

Is there a way I could create a generic method that would work both on widgets and native form elements ?

Here is what I have in mind:

$("#formvalue").someWidget({ ... });
$("#formvalue").genericVal("A value");
var value=$('#formvalue').genericVal()



Is there some introspection capabilities in the widget factory I have missed ? (know which widget implements a given DOM element ; know if it as a given method, property, option ? Obtain the list of options for a given widget ?)

Thanks in advance for any hint..