load function instead of href

[jd0000]

Is there anyway to have a panel/tab run a function to load [ajax/other] data instead of just providing an href option with a single url?  If I want to load ajax data but i need to collect other information from the DOM first, how would i create a custom ajax request to get the data for one of these panels?

On an unrelated note, what have I done wrong that I havent seen this library until now?  I havent heard of it and it is extremely impressive and very helpful.