php - I need help selecting a specific jquery tab on page load -

i need tell page when loads jquery tab use selected / active tab -- i've tried solutions i've found here, , have searched elsewhere extensively, i'm handicapped knowing little js , jquery. i'm under severe time crunch, if can me extremely grateful.

here code: in page head section, have:

<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="jquery-ui.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="jquery-tabs.js"></script> 

and

<script>$(document).ready(function() $("#tabs > ul").tabs();</script> 

in body, have tab div set up, tabs li items (sample below), , works fine except can't seem select tab programmatically.

li class="tabstuff"><a class="tabstuff" href="#tab1"><span>first tab</span></a></li> 

i haven't been able force second tab select on page load when i've tried using code saw in 1 of question posts:

first got index of tab wanted (which know worked, because displayed myself using alert box), using this:

    var index = $('#tabs a[href="#tab2"]').parent().index(); 

then tried each of these 2 methods (separately):

$("#tabs").tabs("option", "active", index); 

i tried:

$('#tabs').tabs('select', index); 

nothing works, , don't know enough jquery see i'm going wrong.

a second issue how tell function tab select , display active on page load. can pass in post or variable, i've tested code found says can use this:

var qry = window.location.search; if (qry.indexof("showlist=yes") > 0) {   //i added alert box here , never got triggered   } 

to check post or variable, , doesn't seem work either.

my web page builds html via php, don't yet understand enough triggering jquery function know how anywhere except on page load or onclick/onchange event.

thanks can give!

in order select different tab first have do

$("#tabs").tabs({ active: 2 }); 

where 2 can changed index want