Anyway to script opening a panel?

Is there anyway to script opening an extension panel from js?

I'm currently developing a panel acting as a toolbox.

I'd like for the toolbox to be able to open Modal dialogs.

Looking through the Samples project I found the HTML Test Modal dialog which looks like what I want.

I just need a way to trigger the dialog to open.

I also would like to script closing the panel as well.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Brennan