diff --git a/etemplate/inc/class.boetemplate.inc.php b/etemplate/inc/class.boetemplate.inc.php
index 225afdab53..0d3a7be3c0 100644
--- a/etemplate/inc/class.boetemplate.inc.php
+++ b/etemplate/inc/class.boetemplate.inc.php
@@ -725,6 +725,19 @@
 			return $this->widget_tree_walk('get_widget_by_path_helper',$path);
 		}
 
+		/**
+		 * returns a reference to a widget in the widget's children tree spezified it's name
+		 *
+		 * It returns the first match!
+		 *
+		 * @param string $name name of the widget
+		 * @return array referenz to the widget spezified or null, if it's not found
+		 */
+		function &get_widget_by_name($name)
+		{
+			return $this->widget_tree_walk('get_widget_by_name_helper',$name);
+		}
+
 		/**
 		 * generated a file-name from an eTemplates, name, template(-set) and lang
 		 *
@@ -930,6 +943,11 @@
 			}
 		}
 		
+		function &get_widget_by_name_helper(&$widget,$extra)
+		{
+			if ($widget['name'] == $extra) return $widget;
+		}
+		
 		function &get_widget_by_path_helper(&$widget,$extra,$path)
 		{
 			//echo "<p>path_searched='$extra', widget-path($widget[type]:$widget[name])='$path'</p>\n";