//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);
		//fix mac date bug by calling this fn.
		//FixCookieDate(expire);
    }
	document.cookie = name + "=" + escape(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 + "=" + escape(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 + "=" + escape(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";
  }
  //alert("cookie " + name + " deleted.");
}


// "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;
  return unescape(document.cookie.substring(offset, endstr));
}


//  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;
}