This should be pretty simple assuming you are returning a constructor from your widget -
View model -
var thisWidget = new widget(someArbitraryData)
function createWidget() {
dialog.show(thisWidget);
}
// later
function updateWidget() {
thisWidget.refreshData(newArbitraryData);
}
Widget module -
define([], function () {
var ctor = function () {
var self = this;
self.data = ko.observable();
};
ctor.prototype.refreshData = function (newData) {
var self = this;
self.data(newData);
};
ctor.prototype.activate = function (activationData) {
var self = this;
self.data(activationData);
};
});