function LTrim(str)
/***
	 PURPOSE: Remove leading blanks from our string.
	 IN: str - the string we want to LTrim

	 RETVAL: An LTrimmed string!
***/
{
	 var whitespace = new String(" \t\n\r");

	 var s = new String(str);

	 if (whitespace.indexOf(s.charAt(0)) != -1) {
		// We have a string with leading blank(s)...

		var j=0, i = s.length;

		// Iterate from the far left of string until we
		// don't have any more whitespace...
		while (j < i && whitespace.indexOf(s.charAt(j)) != -1)
		    j++;


		// Get the substring from the first non-whitespace
		// character to the end of the string...
		s = s.substring(j, i);
	 }

	 return s;
}

function RTrim(str)
/***
	 PURPOSE: Remove trailing blanks from our string.
	 IN: str - the string we want to RTrim

	 RETVAL: An RTrimmed string!
***/
{
	 // We don't want to trip JUST spaces, but also tabs,
	 // line feeds, etc.  Add anything else you want to
	 // "trim" here in Whitespace
	 var whitespace = new String(" \t\n\r");

	 var s = new String(str);

	 if (whitespace.indexOf(s.charAt(s.length-1)) != -1) {
		// We have a string with trailing blank(s)...

		var i = s.length - 1;       // Get length of string

		// Iterate from the far right of string until we
		// don't have any more whitespace...
		while (i >= 0 && whitespace.indexOf(s.charAt(i)) != -1)
		    i--;


		// Get the substring from the front of the string to
		// where the last non-whitespace character is...
		s = s.substring(0, i+1);
	 }

	 return s;
}

function Trim(str)
/***
	 PURPOSE: Remove trailing and leading blanks from our string.
	 IN: str - the string we want to Trim

	 RETVAL: A Trimmed string!
***/
{
	 return RTrim(LTrim(str));
}

function Len(str)
/***
	 IN: str - the string whose length we are interested in

	 RETVAL: The number of characters in the string
***/
{  return String(str).length;  }

function Left(str, n)
/***
	 IN: str - the string we are LEFTing
		n - the number of characters we want to return

	 RETVAL: n characters from the left side of the string
***/
{
	 if (n <= 0)     // Invalid bound, return blank string
		    return "";
	 else if (n > String(str).length)   // Invalid bound, return
		    return str;                // entire string
	 else // Valid bound, return appropriate substring
		    return String(str).substring(0,n);
}

function Right(str, n)
/***
	 IN: str - the string we are RIGHTing
		n - the number of characters we want to return

	 RETVAL: n characters from the right side of the string
***/
{
	 if (n <= 0)     // Invalid bound, return blank string
	    return "";
	 else if (n > String(str).length)   // Invalid bound, return
	    return str;                     // entire string
	 else { // Valid bound, return appropriate substring
	    var iLen = String(str).length;
	    return String(str).substring(iLen, iLen - n);
	 }
}

function Mid(str, start, len)
/***
	 IN: str - the string we are LEFTing
		start - our string's starting position (0 based!!)
		len - how many characters from start we want to get

	 RETVAL: The substring from start to start+len
***/
{
	 // Make sure start and len are within proper bounds
	 if (start < 0 || len < 0) return "";

	 var iEnd, iLen = String(str).length;
	 if (start + len > iLen)
		    iEnd = iLen;
	 else
		    iEnd = start + len;

	 return String(str).substring(start,iEnd);
}


// Keep in mind that strings in JavaScript are zero-based, so if you ask
// for Mid("Hello",1,1), you will get "e", not "H".  To get "H", you would
// simply type in Mid("Hello",0,1)

// You can alter the above function so that the string is one-based.  Just
// check to make sure start is not <= 0, alter the iEnd = start + len to
// iEnd = (start - 1) + len, and in your final return statement, just
// return ...substring(start-1,iEnd)
// InStr function written by: Steve Bamelis - steve.bamelis@pandora.be

function InStr(strSearch, charSearchFor)
/*
InStr(strSearch, charSearchFor) : Returns the first location a substring (SearchForStr)
                           was found in the string str.  (If the character is not
                           found, -1 is returned.)
                           
Requires use of:
	Mid function
	Len function
*/
{
	for (i=0; i < Len(strSearch); i++)
	{
	    if (charSearchFor == Mid(strSearch, i, 1))
	    {
			return i;
	    }
	}
	return -1;
}