Passing object as parameter to constructor function and copy its properties to the new object?

You could do this. There is probably also a jquery way...

function Box(obj) {
  for (var fld in obj) {
    this[fld] = obj[fld];
  }
}

You can include a test for hasOwnProperty if you've (I think foolishly) extended object

function Box(obj) {
   for (var fld in obj) {
     if (obj.hasOwnProperty(fld)) {
       this[fld] = obj[fld];
     }
   }
 }

Edit

Ah, ha! it's jQuery.extend

So, the jQuery way is:

function Box(obj) {
  $.extend(this, obj);
}

Simply put this in your constructor

  for (var prop in obj) {
    if (obj.hasOwnProperty(prop)) {
      this[prop] = obj[prop];
    }
  }

Here's an example with the javascript module pattern:

var s,
NewsWidget = {

  settings: {
    numArticles: 5,
    articleList: $("#article-list"),
    moreButton: $("#more-button")
  },

  init: function(options) {
    this.settings = $.extend(this.settings, options);
    s = this.settings;
    this.bindUIActions();
  },

  bindUIActions: function() {
    s.moreButton.on("click", function() {
      NewsWidget.getMoreArticles(s.numArticles);
    });
  },

  getMoreArticles: function(numToGet) {
    // $.ajax or something
    // using numToGet as param
  }

};

$(function(){
  NewsWidget.init({
    numArticles: 6
  });

  console.log(s.numArticles);
});