// --------------------------------------------------------------- 
//  Cookie Functions - Second Helping  (21-Jan-96) 
//  Written by:  Bill Dortch, hIdaho Design <BDORTCH@NETW.COM> 
//  The following functions are released to the public domain. 
// 
//  The Second Helping version of the cookie functions dispenses with 
//  my encode and decode functions, in favor of JavaScript's new built-in 
//  escape and unescape functions, which do more complete encoding, and 
//  which are probably much faster. 
// 
//  The new version also extends the SetCookie function, though in 
//  a backward-compatible manner, so if you used the First Helping of 
//  cookie functions as they were written, you will not need to change any 
//  code, unless you want to take advantage of the new capabilities. 
// 
//  The following changes were made to SetCookie: 
// 
//  1.  The expires parameter is now optional - that is, you can omit 
//      it instead of passing it null to expire the cookie at the end 
//      of the current session. 
// 
//  2.  An optional path parameter has been added. 
// 
//  3.  An optional domain parameter has been added. 
// 
//  4.  An optional secure parameter has been added. 
// 
//  For information on the significance of these parameters, and 
//  and on cookies in general, please refer to the official cookie 
//  spec, at: 
// 
//      http://www.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html     
// 
// 
// "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". 
//    name - String object containing the cookie name. 
//    returns - String object containing the cookie value, or null if 
//      the cookie does not exist. 
// 
    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; 
    } 

// 
//  Function to create or update a cookie. 
//    name - String object object containing the cookie name. 
//    value - String object containing the cookie value.  May contain 
//      any valid string characters. 
//    [expires] - Date object containing the expiration data of the cookie.  If 
//      omitted or null, expires the cookie at the end of the current session. 
//    [path] - String object indicating the path for which the cookie is valid. 
//      If omitted or null, uses the path of the calling document. 
//    [domain] - String object indicating the domain for which the cookie is 
//      valid.  If omitted or null, uses the domain of the calling document. 
//    [secure] - Boolean (true/false) value indicating whether cookie transmission 
//      requires a secure channel (HTTPS).   
// 
//  The first two parameters are required.  The others, if supplied, must 
//  be passed in the order listed above.  To omit an unused optional field, 
//  use null as a place holder.  For example, to call SetCookie using name, 
//  value and path, you would code: 
// 
//      SetCookie ("myCookieName", "myCookieValue", null, "/"); 
// 
//  Note that trailing omitted parameters do not require a placeholder. 
// 
//  To set a secure cookie for path "/myPath", that expires after the 
//  current session, you might code: 
// 
//      SetCookie (myCookieVar, cookieValueVar, null, "/myPath", null, true); 
// 
    function SetCookie (name, value) { 
      var argv = SetCookie.arguments; 
      var argc = SetCookie.arguments.length; 
      var expires = (argc > 2) ? argv[2] : null; 
      var path = (argc > 3) ? argv[3] : null; 
      var domain = (argc > 4) ? argv[4] : null; 
      var secure = (argc > 5) ? argv[5] : false; 
      document.cookie = name + "=" + escape (value) + 
        ((expires == null) ? "" : ("; expires=" + expires.toGMTString())) + 
        ((path == null) ? "" : ("; path=" + path)) + 
        ((domain == null) ? "" : ("; domain=" + domain)) + 
        ((secure == true) ? "; secure" : ""); 
    } 

//  Function to delete a cookie. (Sets expiration date to current date/time) 
//    name - String object containing the cookie name 
// 
    function DeleteCookie (name) { 
      var exp = new Date(); 
      exp.setTime (exp.getTime() - 1);  // This cookie is history 
      var cval = GetCookie (name); 
      document.cookie = name + "=" + cval + "; expires=" + exp.toGMTString(); 
    } 

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------