How to assign custom property to jQuery object?

I need to assign a custom property to a jQuery object. Here is the object:

var object = $("<div id='item'></div>");

I need object to have a custom data member. How can I add this?

.data()

The .data() function allows you to store or retrieve arbitrary data and associate it with matched elements.

In many situations, it easiest to store key-value-pairs using data() against the body tag.

Data Storage Example

//Store the string "bar" with the body tag, with the key "foo"
$('body').data('foo', 'bar');

Data Retrieval Example

//Retrieve the string "bar"
var str = $('body').data('foo');

Reference

• The Manual

In addition, you can add a property to the DOM object incapsulated in the jQuery object.

You can access the DOM object as the first element of any jQuery object.

var object = $("<div id='item'></div>");
$(object)[0].aproperty = "any value"