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How to get the k-th element in a jQuery set ... AS A JQUERY ELEMENT

So I encounter this situation often and I want to figure out a better way of going about it. I using the naming convention prefixing my jQuery elements with $ so that I can distinguish them from DOM elements. For example, the following:
$pointers = $('#pointer-box div.pointer');
The problem with that is, if I want to get the 3rd in the result as a jQuery, I have to do
$($pointers[2])
which looks awkward. Unless there's a better way of doing this?

You can use .eq() jQuery method
$pointers = $('#pointer-box div.pointer');
var element=$pointers.eq(2);
Given a jQuery object that represents a set of DOM elements, the .eq()
method constructs a new jQuery object from one element within that
set. The supplied index identifies the position of this element in the
set.

Javascript - extract object ID from a Javascript object

So I am not sure if my title is clear enough. I essentially have a div saved as a Javascript object which looks like this: [div#field_30.checkbox_group]
The field_30 is the ID which I am trying to extract here. doing something like object.id is not working. Does anyone know how to get the ID?
Note: I saved the object like this: var object = $(".workspace .selected"); which grabs the currently selected div inside the object called workspace. Sorry is this is a rookie mistake, I just can't seem to find anything anywhere. Thanks for the help...

var object = $(".workspace .selected"); will return a jQuery wrapped element that has jQuery properties and methods rather than element properties and methods. This means that any of
object[0].id
object.prop("id")
object.attr("id")
should work, but the 1st option should be the best performance-wise. It gets the id property of the the 1st element contained by the jQuery object, which is your div.

Your object is in fact a jQuery object, not a dom object.
To use the dom object use,
object[0].id
Or using, jquery, (Since it is already there)
object.prop('id');

You can use either $jquery_object.attr('id') or $jquery_object.eq(0).id
See this for exemple: http://jsfiddle.net/cquuT/

In this case it looks like object is the result of a jQuery select. To get to the actual DOM object you need to use [0]. Then you can access the id property
object[0].id

I don't see a complete answer here, so I'll provide my own.
If you're using jQuery selector $(), then you'll get jQuery-wrapped collection, not a single element.
(I assume now that you're using jQuery 1.5.2, the same as StackOverflow uses now.)
Universal solution to get ids of all elements returned by selector is:
.map(function(){ return this.id; })
Running $(".post-text").map(function(){ return this.id; }) on current page will return something like: ["", "", "", "", ""]
To get id of the first element returned by selector use:
.attr('id')
Running $("div").attr('id') on current page will return "notify-container".
Since jQuery 1.6 you can also use .prop('id') here.
If you know, that query will return only one element or you just want the first element matching given selector, then use .attr which is obviously a simpler solution.

How to Load an object to a jQuery object

In my javascript, I have a function which will return an element present in the HTML page .i have this stored in a variable and now want to do some kind of traversal in that using jquery methods like parent/fadeIn/fadeOut etc.
How can i do that.? My current code which returns the object is
var currentObject= GetThatObject();
Now i really want to play with this object like what we do with a typical jQuery object which we get like
var curObj=$("#tatElement")

You just do this:
var curObj = $(currentObject);
jQuery can take not only selector strings but HTML elements as arguments as well. It will just take that element, wrap it in its jQuery object and you can then use it the same way as if you had used a selector string. (It is actually a little more efficient because jQuery doesn't have to parse the selector and find the element).

Cant get jQuery methods to work

Why is it when I select html elements using .get(i) or similar methods, I am unable to use methods on those elements like the .removeClass() or .html().
I would think that the code below is perfectly valid, yet neither lines work. What do I need to do to apply jQuery methods to an element based on its ordinal index in the DOM?
($('li').get(0)).removeClass('yourClass');
$('li')[0].addClass('myClass');
Here is an example of the issue: http://jsfiddle.net/KcNWy/2/

Check the documentation:
The .get() method grants us access to the DOM nodes underlying each jQuery object.
You can DOM object into jQuery object again: $($('li').get(0)). Or, better yet, use eq: $('li').eq(0).
And also a debugging hint. You can use in firefox/chrome/safari console.log(myObject) to see what's actually returned.

The get() method passes back the DOM object
Retrieve the DOM elements matched by the jQuery object.
Try this instead:
$("li:eq(" + 0 + ")").removeClass("yourClass")
Working example: http://jsfiddle.net/KcNWy/6/

Jquery - Reference by ID - Supposed to return an array?

I just started using jQuery, and various sources suggest that the following should be used to reference an element by ID:
$("#imgThumbnail")
theoretically making something like this possible:
$("#imgThumbnail").src;
But my testing indicates that something like $("#imgThumbnail") returns an array, making the following necessary:
$("#imgThumbnail")[0].src;
Do I really need to reference by the index of the array every time I am trying to reference something by ID (i.e., var oObj = $("#someobjectid")[0]; )?

You should get the src attribute to get the value
$("#imgThumbnail").attr('src');

This post explains what the $ function returns and various ways to use it.
$(selector)
Returns a jQuery object, which could contain a number of DOM elements.
$(selector)[0] or $(selector).get(0)
Returns the first result as an actual DOM element.
$(selector).eq(0) or $($(selector).get(0))
Returns the DOM element wrapped in a jQuery object so that we can do stuff like:
$(selector).eq(0).addClass("deleted").fadeOut();

$(specifier) will return a collection, so yes if you want to call something on an individual member you need to pick which one. In most cases though there is a collection operator you can use to achieve the same result. For instance, you could call $('#imgThumbnail').attr('src', 'value')

You should bear in mind that it's not really an array, it's a jQuery object which, among other things, allows array-style access

$(whatever)
returns the jQuery object. On the jQuery object you can do jQuery and jQuery plugin things, eg. .text() to return the text inside the element or .css("background", "pink") to make the element(s) pink.
Since src isn't a jQuery thing you cannot access it. src is however both a HTML attribute, and you can access those with the attr method:
.attr("src")` and `.attr("src", "http://www.example.com/myimage.png")
src is also a DOM-property and you can access DOM-properties using [index] or by iterating through the jQuery object with each:
.each(function(){
this.src = "http://www.example.com/myimage.png";
})

I don't think you should be using .src with jQuery.
Try $("#imgThumbnail").attr('src');
(this will read the src attribute, you set it with a second arg if you like)
See here:
http://docs.jquery.com/Attributes/attr

to set the src attribute use
$("#imgThumbnail").attr("src", value)
if you use something like a class selector or tag like so
$("img").attr("src", value)
It will modify all the image src attributes on the page. Hence the $ function returns an array.
And you do not need to reference it specifically.