SO jQuery Fiddle
Test Fiddle mainly for SO Questions jQuery 1.4.3, UI 1.8.5
by Nick Craver
HTML
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.5/themes/ui-lightness/jquery-ui.css">
<button class="reply">Reply</button>
<div class="commentbox">
<textarea></textarea>
</div>
JavaScript
var comment = function(){
this.textarea = null;
var self = this;
$(document).ready( init );
function init()
{
$('.reply').click( reply_to );
self.textarea = $('.commentbox textarea');
}
function set_text( the_text )
{
self.textarea.val( the_text );
}
function reply_to() {
set_text( 'a test text' ); // properly gets called.
}
}();