//-------------------------setCookie-----------------------

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

// Some characters - including spaces - are not allowed in cookies

//so we escape to change the value we have entered into 

//a form acceptable to the cookie.

var thisCookie = name + "=" + escape(value) +

((expires) ? "; expires=" + expires.toGMTString() : "") +

((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") +

((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") +

((secure) ? "; secure" : "");

document.cookie = thisCookie;

}


//---------------------------getCookie---------------------------

// this fixes an issue with the old method, ambiguous values 
// with this test document.cookie.indexOf( name + "=" );

function getCookie( check_name ) 
{
	// first we'll split this cookie up into name/value pairs
	// note: document.cookie only returns name=value, not the other components
	var a_all_cookies = document.cookie.split( ';' );
	var a_temp_cookie = '';
	var cookie_name = '';
	var cookie_value = '';
	var b_cookie_found = false; // set boolean t/f default f
	
	for ( i = 0; i < a_all_cookies.length; i++ )
	{
		// now we'll split apart each name=value pair
		a_temp_cookie = a_all_cookies[i].split( '=' );
		
		
		// and trim left/right whitespace while we're at it
		cookie_name = a_temp_cookie[0].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
	
		// if the extracted name matches passed check_name
		if ( cookie_name == check_name )
		{
			b_cookie_found = true;
			// we need to handle case where cookie has no value but exists (no = sign, that is):
			if ( a_temp_cookie.length > 1 )
			{
				cookie_value = unescape( a_temp_cookie[1].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '') );
			}
			// note that in cases where cookie is initialized but no value, null is returned
			return cookie_value;
			break;
		}
		a_temp_cookie = null;
		cookie_name = '';
	}
	if ( !b_cookie_found )
	{
		return null;
	}
}		


//----------------------------delete cookie------------------------------

function del_cookie(name) 
{
document.cookie = name + '=; expires=Thu, 01-Jan-70 00:00:01 GMT;';
}