jquery plugin for accessing val(), or if that's empty, text(). Also calls the write version of both functions. Useful for changing the displayed text on buttons that can be either inputs or links.

jquery.valOrText.js

jQuery.fn.valOrText = function (textString) {
    if (textString === undefined) {
        if (this.length == 0)
            return this.val();
        else
            return this.val() || this.text()
    } else {
        this.val(textString);
        return this.text(textString);
    }
};