function setCookie( name, value, expires, path, domain, secure ) {
	// set time, it's in milliseconds
	var today = new Date();
	today.setTime(today.getTime());
	
	/*
	if the expires variable is set, make the correct 
	expires time, the current script below will set 
	it for x number of days, to make it for hours, 
	delete * 24, for minutes, delete * 60 * 24
	*/
	if(expires) {
		expires=expires*1000*60*60*24;
	}
	var expires_date = new Date(today.getTime()+(expires));
	
	document.cookie=name+"="+escape(value)+
	((expires)?";expires="+expires_date.toGMTString():"")+ 
	((path)?";path="+path:"")+ 
	((domain)?";domain="+domain:"")+
	((secure)?";secure":"" );
}

// this fixes an issue with the old method, ambiguous values 
// with this test document.cookie.indexOf( name + "=" );
function getCookie(check_name) {
	// first we'll split this cookie up into name/value pairs
	// note: document.cookie only returns name=value, not the other components
	var a_all_cookies=document.cookie.split(';');
	var a_temp_cookie='';
	var cookie_name='';
	var cookie_value='';
	var b_cookie_found=false; // set boolean t/f default f
	
	for(var i=0; i<a_all_cookies.length; i++)	{
		// now we'll split apart each name=value pair
		a_temp_cookie=a_all_cookies[i].split('=');
				
		// and trim left/right whitespace while we're at it
		cookie_name=a_temp_cookie[0].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
	
		// if the extracted name matches passed check_name
		if(cookie_name==check_name)	{
			b_cookie_found=true;
			// we need to handle case where cookie has no value but exists (no = sign, that is):
			if(a_temp_cookie.length>1) {
				cookie_value=unescape(a_temp_cookie[1].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, ''));
			}
			// note that in cases where cookie is initialized but no value, null is returned
			return cookie_value;
			break;
		}
		a_temp_cookie=null;
		cookie_name='';
	}
	if(!b_cookie_found)	{
		return null;
	}
}			

// this deletes the cookie when called
function deleteCookie(name, path, domain ) {
	if(getCookie(name)) document.cookie=name+"="+
	((path)?";path="+path:"")+
	((domain)?";domain="+domain:"")+
	";expires=Thu, 01-Jan-1970 00:00:01 GMT";
}