jQuery: Pass plugin a string reference to be used as object in plugin
<p>This may be a little non-standard.....</p>

<pre><code>// JavaScript Document
(function( $ ){
$.fn.editAsPage = function(options) {       
    var settings =  {};     
    if(options){ jQuery.extend(settings, options); }        
    return this.each( function(){           
        var el = jQuery(this);
        alert(settings.source.attr("class"));                         
    });
};
})(jQuery);
</code></pre>

<p>My question lies around the settings.source parameter. attr("class") is just an example, there are several attributes I need to get from a particular DOM element, but the user of the plugin may need to define which DOM element settings.source is.</p>

<p>So you say, just pass in an jQuery object.  Where I run into a problem is that I, for one, want to reference the parent of "this" in the plugin.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<pre><code>jQuery(".edit").editAsPage({
        'source':jQuery(this)                                                              
    });
</code></pre>

<p>Here, jQuery(this) won't refer to element with the .edit class since it will interpret it before calling the editAsPage function.</p>

<p>I guess the question is, can I pass a string to the editAsPage function to be interpreted as a jQuery object in the plugin?</p>

<p>This is a very simple example.  The reason, I don't just use "this" inside the plugin, is because "source" could change.  It may very well be something like:</p>

<p>'source':jQuery(this).parents("selector:first")</p>

<p>Not sure if that made any sense what I'm asking.  It makes sense in my mind. :)</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>
