possible jquery extension outerHTML and toString methods

jquery_outerhtml_and_tostring.js

$.fn.outerHtml = function() {
  // edit:
  // var el = $(this).get(0);
  var el = this.get(0);
  if (el === undefined || !(el instanceof Element)) return false;
  if (el.outerHTML !== undefined) return el.outerHTML;
  return $('<div>').html($(this).eq(0).clone()).html();
};

/* It could be convenient if jQuery objects had a toString method
*  defined that returned the outerHTML of the element rather than
*  '[object Object]'.
*/
$.fn._original_toString = $.fn.toString;

$.fn.toString = function() {
  if (this.get(0) instanceof Element) {
    return this.outerHtml();
  } else {
    return this._original_toString();
  }
};