You can address the element directly

$("#trapName")

If you want to get the value, use
var value = $("#trapName).val();

To set the value
$("#trapName).val("New value");


>I think there is something wrong with my understanding of JQuery (which is pretty elemental at best).
>
>I have a fragment of html. Jquery sees it as this:

$(content): jQuery.fn.jQuery.init[3]
>0: h2
>1: text
>2: input#trapName
>length: 3
>__proto__: Object[0]

so I thought I could access the input element with

$(content).find('#trapName')

but it finds nothing.
>
>Any clues. Note this fragment is not in the DOM - but should that matter?