jquery: replace & restore
see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4004731/jquery-storing-content-of-select-box-to-variable/4004823#4004823
HTML
<body>
<select id="target" size="3">
<option>a
<option>b
<option>c
</select>
<input type="button"
value="replace"
onclick="fx($('#target'),this)"
/>
</body>
JavaScript
function fx(o,b)
{
if(b.value==='replace')
{
o.data('defaults',$('option',o).replaceWith('<option>1</option><option>2</option><option>3</option>'));
$(b).val('restore');
}
else
{
$(o).empty().append($(o).data('defaults'));
$(b).val('replace');
}
}