//code from: http://techpatterns.com/downloads/javascript_cookies.php
function Set_Cookie( name, value, expires, path, domain, secure ) {
	// set time, it's in milliseconds
	var today = new Date();
	today.setTime( today.getTime() );

	/*
	if the expires variable is set, make the correct
	expires time, the current script below will set
	it for x number of days, to make it for hours,
	delete * 24, for minutes, delete * 60 * 24
	*/
	if ( expires ) {
		expires = expires * 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24;
	}
	var expires_date = new Date( today.getTime() + (expires) );
	
	document.cookie = name + "=" +escape( value ) + ( ( expires ) ? ";expires=" + expires_date.toGMTString() : "" ) + ( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "" ) + ( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) + ( ( secure ) ? ";secure" : "" );
}



function Get_Cookie( 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;
	}
}


// this deletes the cookie when called
function Delete_Cookie( name, path, domain ) {
	if ( Get_Cookie( name ) ) document.cookie = name + "=" + ( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "") + ( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) + ";expires=Thu, 01-Jan-1970 00:00:01 GMT";
}