Jquery plugin with api

How can I retrieve API variables from a plugin. As p开发者_JS百科er the Jquery Authoring documentation, here is plugin structure:

(function( $ ){

    var methods = {

        init : function( options ) {

            return this.each(function() {
                var settings = {
                    'height' : 10,
                    'width' : 10
                };

                if ( options ) { $.extend( settings, options ); }

                $('<div>', {
                    css : {
                        height : settings.height,
                        width : settings.width,
                    }
                }).appendTo(this);
            });

        }

    };

    $.fn.myPlugin = function( method ) {

        if ( methods[method] ) {
            return methods[method].apply( this, Array.prototype.slice.call( arguments, 1 ));
        } else if ( typeof method === 'object' || ! method ) {
            return methods.init.apply( this, arguments );
        } else {
            $.error( 'Method ' +  method + ' does not exist on jQuery.element' );
        }    

    };

})( jQuery );

I would like to be able to do the following :

var element = $('div').myPlugin();
console.log(element.properties);

In properties, I would have a function that returns the height and width of my Div. How would I go about creating the properties variable in this design ?

thanks

You would get rid of...

return this.each(function() { ... });

...and have your plugin return something such as...

return {
   'properties': {
       'width': calculatedWidth,
       'height': calculatedHeight
    }
}

However, doing this will mean you can not chain another method.