// cookie functions
function get_cookie (name) {
	var arg = name + "=";
	var alen = arg.length;
	var clen = document.cookie.length;
	var i = 0;
	while (i < clen) {
		var j = i + alen;
		if (document.cookie.substring (i, j) == arg)
			return get_cookie_val (j);
		i = document.cookie.indexOf (" ", i) + 1;
		if (i == 0)
			break; 
	}
	return null;
}

function get_cookie_val (offset) {
	var endstr = document.cookie.indexOf (";", offset);
	if (endstr == -1)
		endstr = document.cookie.length;
	return unescape (document.cookie.substring (offset, endstr));
}

function set_cookie (name, value, expires, path, domain, secure) {

	var dateObject = new Date ();
	dateObject.setTime (expires * 1000);	// convert seconds to ms

//	alert ('setting cookie: ' + name + '= "' + value + '"');

	document.cookie = name + "=" + escape (value)
	+ ((expires) ? "; expires=" + dateObject.toGMTString () : "")
	+ ((path) ? "; path=" + path : "")
	+ ((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "")
	+ ((secure) ? "; secure" : "");

//	alert ('cookie set');
}

function delete_cookie (name, path, domain) {
//	alert ('deleting cookie: ' + name);

	if (get_cookie (name)) {
		document.cookie = name + "="
		+ ((path) ? "; path=" + path : "")
		+ ((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "")
		+ "; expires=Thu, 01-Jan-70 00:00:01 GMT";
	}
}