[jQuery] serializeHash() instead of serializeArray()

[herbasher]

I need some help by a jQuery internals hacker, because I don't really
know how to add this particular feature that I need to jQuery:

Sometimes I want to serialize a form to a Hash/Object in the form of:

{ key: 'val', key2: 'val2' }

jQuery only gives me serializeArray(), which gives me something like
this which is rather awkward sometimes:

[ { name: 'key', value: 'val' }, { name: 'key2', value: 'val2' } ]

I use the following code to convert from an array like that to a Hash:

    var new_item = $(this).serializeArray();
    var new_item_hash = {};
    $.each(new_item, function() {
      new_item_hash[this.name] = this.value;
    });

How do I take this and build a simple addon for jQuery that allows me
to do:

    var new_item = $(this).serializeHash();


How do I do that?



Thanks,
Herb