var is_ie = (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE') >= 0) ? 1 : 0; 
    var is_ie5 = (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 5.5")!=-1) ? 1 : 0; 
    var is_opera = ((navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Opera6")!=-1)||(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Opera/6")!=-1)) ? 1 : 0; 
    //netscape, safari, mozilla behave the same??? 
    var is_netscape = (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Netscape') >= 0) ? 1 : 0; 

// XMLHttp send GET request 
    function xmlHttp_Get(xmlhttp, url) { 
        xmlhttp.open('GET', url, true); 
        xmlhttp.send(null); 
    } 

    function GetXmlHttpObject(handler) { 
        var objXmlHttp = null;    //Holds the local xmlHTTP object instance 

        //Depending on the browser, try to create the xmlHttp object 
        if (is_ie){ 
            //The object to create depends on version of IE 
            //If it isn't ie5, then default to the Msxml2.XMLHTTP object 
            var strObjName = (is_ie5) ? 'Microsoft.XMLHTTP' : 'Msxml2.XMLHTTP'; 
             
            //Attempt to create the object 
            try{ 
                objXmlHttp = new ActiveXObject(strObjName); 
                objXmlHttp.onreadystatechange = handler; 
            } 
            catch(e){ 
            //Object creation errored 
                alert('IE detected, but object could not be created. Verify that active scripting and activeX controls are enabled'); 
                return; 
            } 
        } 
        else if (is_opera){ 
            //Opera has some issues with xmlHttp object functionality 
            alert('Opera detected. The page may not behave as expected.'); 
            return; 
        } 
        else{ 
            // Mozilla | Netscape | Safari 
            objXmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); 
            objXmlHttp.onload = handler; 
            objXmlHttp.onerror = handler; 
        } 
         
        //Return the instantiated object 
        return objXmlHttp; 
    } 
    
    
    
    function createCookie(name,value,days) {
    if (days) {
        var date = new Date();
        date.setTime(date.getTime()+(days*24*60*60*1000));
        var expires = "; expires="+date.toGMTString();
    }
    else var expires = "";
    document.cookie = name+"="+value+expires+"; path=/";
}
 
 
function readCookie(name) {
    var nameEQ = name + "=";
    var ca = document.cookie.split(';');
    for(var i=0;i < ca.length;i++) {
        var c = ca[i];
        while (c.charAt(0)==' ') c = c.substring(1,c.length);
        if (c.indexOf(nameEQ) == 0) return c.substring(nameEQ.length,c.length);
    }
    return null;
}
 
function eraseCookie(name) {
    createCookie(name,"",-1);
}

function extractNumber(obj, decimalPlaces, allowNegative)
{
	var temp = obj.value;
	
	// avoid changing things if already formatted correctly
	var reg0Str = '[0-9]*';
	if (decimalPlaces > 0) {
		reg0Str += '\\.?[0-9]{0,' + decimalPlaces + '}';
	} else if (decimalPlaces < 0) {
		reg0Str += '\\.?[0-9]*';
	}
	reg0Str = allowNegative ? '^-?' + reg0Str : '^' + reg0Str;
	reg0Str = reg0Str + '$';
	var reg0 = new RegExp(reg0Str);
	if (reg0.test(temp)) return true;

	// first replace all non numbers
	var reg1Str = '[^0-9' + (decimalPlaces != 0 ? '.' : '') + (allowNegative ? '-' : '') + ']';
	var reg1 = new RegExp(reg1Str, 'g');
	temp = temp.replace(reg1, '');

	if (allowNegative) {
		// replace extra negative
		var hasNegative = temp.length > 0 && temp.charAt(0) == '-';
		var reg2 = /-/g;
		temp = temp.replace(reg2, '');
		if (hasNegative) temp = '-' + temp;
	}
	
	if (decimalPlaces != 0) {
		var reg3 = /\./g;
		var reg3Array = reg3.exec(temp);
		if (reg3Array != null) {
			// keep only first occurrence of .
			//  and the number of places specified by decimalPlaces or the entire string if decimalPlaces < 0
			var reg3Right = temp.substring(reg3Array.index + reg3Array[0].length);
			reg3Right = reg3Right.replace(reg3, '');
			reg3Right = decimalPlaces > 0 ? reg3Right.substring(0, decimalPlaces) : reg3Right;
			temp = temp.substring(0,reg3Array.index) + '.' + reg3Right;
		}
	}
	
	obj.value = temp;
}

function blockNonNumbers(obj, e, allowDecimal, allowNegative)
{
	var key;
	var isCtrl = false;
	var keychar;
	var reg;
		
	if(window.event) {
		key = e.keyCode;
		isCtrl = window.event.ctrlKey
	}
	else if(e.which) {
		key = e.which;
		isCtrl = e.ctrlKey;
	}
	
	if (isNaN(key)) return true;
	
	keychar = String.fromCharCode(key);
	
	// check for backspace or delete, or if Ctrl was pressed
	if (key == 8 || isCtrl)
	{
		return true;
	}

	reg = /\d/;
	var isFirstN = allowNegative ? keychar == '-' && obj.value.indexOf('-') == -1 : false;
	var isFirstD = allowDecimal ? keychar == '.' && obj.value.indexOf('.') == -1 : false;
	
	return isFirstN || isFirstD || reg.test(keychar);
}