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(start, 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=start; i < Len(strSearch); i++)
	{
     if (charSearchFor == Mid(strSearch, i, 1))
	    {
			return i;
	    }
	}
	return -1
}