dForm-generate is a jQuery plugin for generating JSON from a HTML form element which is compatible with the jQuery.dForm plugin.
Refer to example.html and example2.html Though typical useage will be:
$("#MyForm").dFormGenerate()
This generates a JSON string ready to use with a JSON parser of your choice. So for example, to read one form from your HTML and then display it using jQuery.dForm:
var form = JSON.parse($("#form").dFormGenerate());
$("#form2").dform(form);
All newish browsers (newer than Internet Explorer 7) have the native JSON.parse and JSON.stringify methods built in. If you need to support older browsers then I recommend using the JSON parser and stringifier implementation by Douglas Crockford (the guy who made JSON) which will add the JSON object to the JavaScript namespace.
Instead of JSON.parse you can use the eval() function in JavaScript - however only use this with JSON from a trusted source, for security reasons. A proper parser is safer.
Note: text nodes (text not within a set of tags) within a form are ignored. Support for these may be added in the future, but in the meantime wrap text in a label, span, p, or anything.
Disclaimer: I do not claim to be competent at JavaScript or jQuery. This code works for me, but may not work for you.
Patches welcome.