//test if browser enables cookies
function TestCookie(errmsg){
  SetCookie("testcookie", "test");
  var the_cookie = GetCookie("testcookie");
  //alert("testcookie: " + the_cookie);
  if(the_cookie == null || the_cookie == "null") {
    alert(errmsg);
  }
  DeleteCookie("testcookie");
  return false;
} 
// function to set cookies. parameters in addition to name and value are optional, of course.
function SetCookie (name, value, daysexpire, path, domain, secure) {
	if (daysexpire){
		expire = new Date();
		expire.setTime(expire.getTime() + daysexpire*24*60*60*1000);
	}
	document.cookie = name + "=" + urlEncode(value) +
		((daysexpire) ? "; expires=" + expire.toGMTString() : "") +
		((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") +
		((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") +
		((secure) ? "; secure" : "");
}
// function to set cookies so that it expire on a certain date (not number of days.
//expire is a date object here.
function SetDateCookie (name, value, dateexpire, path, domain, secure) {
	document.cookie = name + "=" + urlEncode(value) +
        ((dateexpire) ? "; expires=" + dateexpire.toGMTString() : "") +
        ((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") +
        ((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") +
        ((secure) ? "; secure" : "");
}

// function to set session cookies. parameters optional. cookie expires after session ends.
function SetSessionCookie (name, value, path, domain, secure) {
	document.cookie = name + "=" + urlEncode(value) + 
        ((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") +
        ((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") +
        ((secure) ? "; secure" : "");
}

//  Function to correct for 2.x Mac date bug.  Call this function to
//  fix a date object prior to passing it to SetCookie.
//  IMPORTANT:  This function should only be called *once* for
//  any given date object!  See example at the end of this document.
function FixCookieDate (date) {
  var base = new Date(0);
  var skew = base.getTime(); // dawn of (Unix) time - should be 0
  if (skew > 0)  // Except on the Mac - ahead of its time
    date.setTime (date.getTime() - skew);
}

//  Function to delete a cookie. (Sets expiration date to start of epoch)
// if you specify path and domain when you set cookie, you must specify them to delete
function DeleteCookie (name,path,domain) {
	if (GetCookie(name)) {
		document.cookie = name + "=" +
			((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") +
			((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") +
			"; expires=Thu, 01-Jan-70 00:00:01 GMT";
	}
}

// "Internal" function to return the decoded value of a cookie
function GetCookieVal (offset) {
	var endstr = document.cookie.indexOf (";", offset);
	if (endstr == -1) endstr = document.cookie.length;
	var val=document.cookie.substring(offset, endstr);
	return urlDecode(val);
}


//  Function to return the value of the cookie specified by "name" or null otherwise.
function GetCookie (name) {
	var arg = name + "=";
	var alen = arg.length;
	var clen = document.cookie.length;
	var i = 0;
	while (i < clen) {
		var j = i + alen;
		if (document.cookie.substring(i, j) == arg) { return GetCookieVal (j); }
		i = document.cookie.indexOf(" ", i) + 1;
		if (i == 0) break; 
	}
	return null;
}