function setCookie(inName, inValue, inNumberOfDays)	{
	var expDate = new Date ();
	expDate.setTime (expDate.getTime() + (86400000 * inNumberOfDays));
	var gmtExpDate = expDate.toGMTString();
	document.cookie = inName + "=" + inValue + ";expires=" + gmtExpDate;
}

//this function gets the value of a cookie given it's name
function getCookie (inName)	{
	var dCookie = document.cookie; 
	var cName = inName + "=";
	var cLen = dCookie.length;
	var cBegin = 0;
	while (cBegin < cLen) 	{
		var vBegin = cBegin + cName.length;
		if (dCookie.substring(cBegin, vBegin) == cName) { 
			var vEnd = dCookie.indexOf (";", vBegin);
		    if (vEnd == -1) 
				vEnd = cLen;
			return unescape(dCookie.substring(vBegin, vEnd));
		}
		cBegin = dCookie.indexOf(" ", cBegin) + 1;
		if (cBegin == 0)
			 break;
	}
	return null;
}

//this function will delete a cookie by setting the expiration date in the past
function deleteCookie(inName)	{
	 document.cookie = inName + "=; expires=Thu, 01-Jan-70 00:00:01 GMT";
}