// Cookie Creation & Management Functions
// create a cookie
function createCookie(name, value, days)
{
	// check to see if we want to the cookie to expire
	if(days)
	{
		var date = new Date();
		date.setTime(date.getTime()+(days*24*60*60*1000));
		var expires = "; expires=" + date.toGMTString();
	}
	else
	{
		var expires = "";
	}
	
	// save the cookie
	document.cookie = name + "=" + value + expires + "; path=/";
}

// get a cookie by name
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;
}

// erase the cookie
function eraseCookie(name)
{
	// baskically re-set the cookie with a negative expire day
	// and the browser will "expire" it or delete it.
	createCookie(name, "", -1);
}