function isValidEmail(someString) { 
        var filter  = /.*@.*\..*/; 
	var isValid = false;

	if ( filter.test(someString) ) {
		isValid = true;	
	}

 	return isValid;
}

// populate a select box with options

//    target - id of select box
//    options - array of key,value pairs in the form of dictionary
//    keyRef - the name of the key in the dictionary. This is the text shown.
//    valRef - the name of the value in the dictionary
function populateSelectOptions(target,options,displayRef,valRef) { 
	Dom.deleteChildren(target); 
    
	for( var i=0; i<options.length; i++ ) { 
		var el = document.createElement('option'); 

		if( i == 0 ) el.setAttribute('selected','true'); 
		el.innerHTML = options[i][displayRef]; 
		el['value'] =  options[i][valRef]; 
		Dom.add(el, target);  
	} 

}	


<!-- thx to: http://www.somacon.com/p143.php -->
function getRadioCheckedValue(radioObj) {
	if(!radioObj)
		return "";
	var radioLength = radioObj.length;
	if(radioLength == undefined)
		if(radioObj.checked)
			return radioObj.value;
		else
			return "";
	for(var i = 0; i < radioLength; i++) {
		if(radioObj[i].checked) {
			return radioObj[i].value;
		}
	}
	return "";
}

function changeDivDisplay(the_div,the_change)
{
  var the_style = getStyleObject(the_div);
  if (the_style != false)
  {
    the_style.display = the_change;
  }
}


// function switchDiv()
//  this function takes the id of a div
//  and calls the other functions required
//  to show that div
//
function switchDiv(div_id)
{
  var style_sheet = getStyleObject(div_id);
  if (style_sheet)
  {
    hideAll();
    changeObjectVisibility(div_id,"visible");
  }
  else 
  {
    alert("sorry, this only works in browsers that do Dynamic HTML");
  }
}

// function getStyleObject(string) -> returns style object
//  given a string containing the id of an object
//  the function returns the stylesheet of that object
//  or false if it can\'t find a stylesheet.  Handles
//  cross-browser compatibility issues.
//
function getStyleObject(objectId) {
  // checkW3C DOM, then MSIE 4, then NN 4.
  //
  if(document.getElementById && document.getElementById(objectId)) {
	return document.getElementById(objectId).style;
   }
   else if (document.all && document.all(objectId)) {  
	return document.all(objectId).style;
   } 
   else if (document.layers && document.layers[objectId]) { 
	return document.layers[objectId];
   } else {
	return false;
   }
}


function getObject(objectId) {
  // checkW3C DOM, then MSIE 4, then NN 4.
  //
  if(document.getElementById && document.getElementById(objectId)) {
	return document.getElementById(objectId);
   }
   else if (document.all && document.all(objectId)) {  
	return document.all(objectId);
   } 
   else if (document.layers && document.layers[objectId]) { 
	return document.layers[objectId];
   } else {
	return false;
   }
}


function changeObjectVisibility(objectId, newVisibility) {
    // first get a reference to the cross-browser style object 
    // and make sure the object exists
    var styleObject = getStyleObject(objectId);
    if(styleObject) {
	styleObject.visibility = newVisibility;
	return true;
    } else {
	// we couldn't find the object, so we can't change its visibility
	return false;
    }
}


//	this function will switch tabs in a multi-tabbed section like online.shtml
//
// 	this function takes two arrays and an integer
//	alltabs is an array of the names of tabbed areas containing text to hide or display
// 	allbtns is an array of the names of the tabs themsevles, what gets clicked
//  tabclasson is a string of the name of the \'selected\' class
//  tabclassoff is a string of the name of the \'unselected\' class
// 	showtab is an integer, 0 thru n, of the tab to show.
//	01/28/10 -- skip evans

function displayOneTabHideOthers(alltabs,allbtns,tabclasson,tabclassoff,showtab)
{
	for (x = 0; x < alltabs.length; x++)
		{
          if (x == showtab)
			{
               if (x == 0) 
				tabstyle = "first " + tabclasson;
			else if (x == (alltabs.length - 1)) 
				tabstyle = "third " + tabclasson;
			else  
				tabstyle = "second " + tabclasson;
			document.getElementById(alltabs[x]).style.display="block";
			document.getElementById(allbtns[x]).className = tabstyle;
			}	
		else
			{
               if (x == 0) 
				tabstyle = "first " + tabclassoff;
			else if (x == (alltabs.length - 1)) 
				tabstyle = "third " + tabclassoff;
			else  
				tabstyle = "second " + tabclassoff;
		    document.getElementById(allbtns[x]).className = tabstyle;
              document.getElementById(alltabs[x]).style.display="none";
			}
		}
}


// -->



    <!-- This is the stuff that lets us add/remove DOM elements -->
    <!-- thx to: dustindiaz.com -->
  
      var Dom = {
        get: function(el) {
          if (typeof el === 'string') {
            return document.getElementById(el);
          } else {
            return el;
          }
        },
        add: function(el, dest) {
          var el = this.get(el);
          var dest = this.get(dest);
          dest.appendChild(el);
        },
        remove: function(el) {
          var el = this.get(el);
          el.parentNode.removeChild(el);
        },

        deleteChildren: function(el) {
          var el = this.get(el);
          while( el.firstChild != null ) {
                el.removeChild(el.firstChild);
          } 
        } 
      };