function createCookie(name,value,days)
{
	if (days)
	{
		var date = new Date();
		date.setTime(date.getTime()+(days*24*60*60*1000));
		var expires = "; expires="+date.toGMTString();
	}
	else var expires = "";
	document.cookie = name+"="+value+expires+"; path=/";
}

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;
}

function eraseCookie(name)
{
	createCookie(name,"",-1);
}

function validate_date(field)
{
	var checkstr = "0123456789";
	var DateField = field;
	var Datevalue = "";
	var DateTemp = "";
	var seperator = "/";
	var day;
	var month;
	var year;
	var leap = 0;
	var err = 0;
	var i;

	err = 0;
	DateValue = DateField.value;
	/* Delete all chars except 0..9 */
	for (i = 0; i < DateValue.length; i++) {
		if (checkstr.indexOf(DateValue.substr(i,1)) >= 0) {
			DateTemp = DateTemp + DateValue.substr(i,1);
		}
	}
	DateValue = DateTemp;
	/* Always change date to 8 digits - string*/
	/* if year is entered as 2-digit / always assume 20xx */
	if (DateValue.length == 6) {
		DateValue = DateValue.substr(0,4) + '19' + DateValue.substr(4,2); }
	if (DateValue.length != 8) {
		err = 19;}
	/* year is wrong if year = 0000 */
	year = DateValue.substr(4,4);
	if (year == 0) {
		err = 20;
	}
	/* Validation of month*/
	month = DateValue.substr(2,2);
	if ((month < 1) || (month > 12)) {
		err = 21;
	}
	/* Validation of day*/
	day = DateValue.substr(0,2);
	if (day < 1) {
		err = 22;
	}
	/* Validation leap-year / february / day */
	if ((year % 4 == 0) || (year % 100 == 0) || (year % 400 == 0)) {
		leap = 1;
	}
	if ((month == 2) && (leap == 1) && (day > 29)) {
		err = 23;
	}
	if ((month == 2) && (leap != 1) && (day > 28)) {
		err = 24;
	}
	/* Validation of other months */
	if ((day > 31) && ((month == "01") || (month == "03") || (month == "05") || (month == "07") || (month == "08") || (month == "10") || (month == "12"))) {
		err = 25;
	}
	if ((day > 30) && ((month == "04") || (month == "06") || (month == "09") || (month == "11"))) {
		err = 26;
	}
	/* if 00 ist entered, no error, deleting the entry */
	if ((day == 0) && (month == 0) && (year == 00)) {
		err = 0; day = ""; month = ""; year = ""; seperator = "";
	}
	/* if no error, write the completed date to Input-Field (e.g. 13.12.2001) */
	if (err == 0) {
		DateField.value = day + seperator + month + seperator + year;
	}
	/* Error-message if err != 0 */
	else {
		alert("Date is incorrect!");
		DateField.select();
		DateField.focus();
	}
}

	function getHTTPRequest()
	{
		var xmlhttp=false;
		/*@cc_on @*/
		/*@if (@_jscript_version >= 5)
		// JScript gives us Conditional compilation, we can cope with old IE versions.
		// and security blocked creation of the objects.
		 try {
		  xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
		 } catch (e) {
		  try {
		   xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
		  } catch (E) {
		   xmlhttp = false;
		  }
		 }
		@end @*/
		if (!xmlhttp && typeof XMLHttpRequest!='undefined') {
			try {
				xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
			} catch (e) {
				xmlhttp=false;
			}
		}
		if (!xmlhttp && window.createRequest) {
			try {
				xmlhttp = window.createRequest();
			} catch (e) {
				xmlhttp=false;
			}
		}
		return xmlhttp;
	}

      function pack(txt) {
         // convert text to hexadecimal (string/byte-pairs) equivalents
         var last = txt.length;
         var bytes = Array(last);
         var hexPack = "";
         for (var i = 0; i < last; i++) {
            bytes[i] = txt.charCodeAt(i);
            hexPack += decToHex(bytes[i]);
         }
         return hexPack;
      }

      function unpack(hexPack) {
         // convert hexadecimal (string/byte-pairs) to text equivalents
         var last = hexPack.length/2;
         var bytes = Array(last);
         var txt = "";
         var code = 0;
         var low = "";
         var high = "";
         for (var i = 0; i < last; i++) {
            low = hexPack.charAt(1 + 2*i);
            high = hexPack.charAt(2*i);
            code = hexToDec(high + low);
            txt += String.fromCharCode(code);
         }
         return txt;
      }

      function decToHex(dec) {
         var hexChars = "0123456789abcdef";
         var low = dec % 16;
         var high = (dec - low)/16;
         hex = "" + hexChars.charAt(high) + hexChars.charAt(low);
         return hex;
      }

      function hexToDec(hex) {
         var hexChars = "0123456789abcdef";
         var low = hexChars.indexOf(hex.charAt(1));
         var high = 16*hexChars.indexOf(hex.charAt(0));
         hex = low + high;
         return hex;
      }