function set_cookie ( name, value, exp_y, exp_m, exp_d, path, domain, secure )
{
  var cookie_string = name + "=" + escape ( value );

  if ( exp_y )
  {
    var expires = new Date ( exp_y, exp_m, exp_d );
    cookie_string += "; expires=" + expires.toGMTString();
  }

  if ( path )
        cookie_string += "; path=" + escape ( path );

  if ( domain )
        cookie_string += "; domain=" + escape ( domain );
  
  if ( secure )
        cookie_string += "; secure";
  
  document.cookie = cookie_string;
}

function delete_cookie ( cookie_name )
{
  var cookie_date = new Date ( );  // current date & time
  cookie_date.setTime ( cookie_date.getTime() - 1 );
  document.cookie = cookie_name += "=; expires=" + cookie_date.toGMTString();
}


function get_cookie ( cookie_name )
{
  var results = document.cookie.match ( '(^|;) ?' + cookie_name + '=([^;]*)(;|$)' );

  if ( results )
    return ( unescape ( results[2] ) );
  else
    return null;
}

function truncate(text, length, ellipsis) {    

    // Set length and ellipsis to defaults if not defined
    if (typeof length == 'undefined') var length = 100;
    if (typeof ellipsis == 'undefined') var ellipsis = '...';

    // Return if the text is already lower than the cutoff
    if (text.length < length) return text;

    // Otherwise, check if the last character is a space.
    // If not, keep counting down from the last character
    // until we find a character that is a space
    for (var i = length-1; text.charAt(i) != ' '; i--) {
        length--;
    }

    // The for() loop ends when it finds a space, and the length var
    // has been updated so it doesn't cut in the middle of a word.
    return text.substr(0, length) + ellipsis;
}

function removeHTMLTags(text){
 		var strInputCode = text;
 		/* 
  			This line is optional, it replaces escaped brackets with real ones, 
  			i.e. < is replaced with < and > is replaced with >
 		*/	
 	 	strInputCode = strInputCode.replace(/&(lt|gt);/g, function (strMatch, p1){
 		 	return (p1 == "lt")? "<" : ">";
 		});
 		var strTagStrippedText = strInputCode.replace(/<\/?[^>]+(>|$)/g, "");
 		var strTagStrippedText = strTagStrippedText.replace(/\*/g, "");
 		return strTagStrippedText;	
   // Use the alert below if you want to show the input and the output text
   //		alert("Input code:\n" + strInputCode + "\n\nOutput text:\n" + strTagStrippedText);	
}