// General JavaScript Utility Functions

// Get all elements of a certain class
// (this function has one necessary and two optional arguments)
function getElementsByClass(searchClass, node, tag)
{
	var classElements = new Array();
	if ( node == null )
		node = document;
	if ( tag == null )
		tag = '*';
	var els = node.getElementsByTagName(tag);
	var elsLen = els.length;
	var pattern = new RegExp('(^|\\s)'+searchClass+'(\\s|$)');
	for (i = 0, j = 0; i < elsLen; i++) {
		if ( pattern.test(els[i].className) ) {
			classElements[j] = els[i];
			j++;
		}
	}
	return classElements;
}

// read request string and put values into an array
//**THIS FUNCTION HAS NOT BEEN TESTED**
function qs(queryString)
{
  var qsParm = new Array();
  var parms = queryString.split('&');
  for (var i = 0; i < parms.length; i++)
  {
    var pos = parms[i].indexOf('=');
    if (pos > 0)
    {
      var key = parms[i].substring(0, pos);
      var val = parms[i].substring(pos + 1);
      qsParm[key] = val;
    }
  }
  return qsParm;
}