function findPos(obj) {
	var curleft = curtop = 0;
	if (obj.offsetParent) {
		curleft = obj.offsetLeft
		curtop = obj.offsetTop
		while (obj = obj.offsetParent) {
			curleft += obj.offsetLeft
			curtop += obj.offsetTop
		}
	}
	return [curleft,curtop];
}

/* This takes a URL-form-encoded string and returns and associative array of name/value pairs like we do in Perl */

function parseResponse(responseString)
{
	var dataHash = new Array();
	var pairsArray = new Array();
	pairsArray = responseString.split('&');	// split the string on the &
	
	// Loop through all the name=value pairs; split them apart; then unescape them
	var i = 0;
	for (i = 0; i < pairsArray.length; i++)
	{
		var pieceArray = new Array(2);		// holds 2 elements: names and values
		pieceArray = pairsArray[i].split('=');	// split the name=value pairs
		pieceArray[0] = unescape(pieceArray[0]);	// convert the URL-encoded characters
		pieceArray[1] = unescape(pieceArray[1]);	// convert the URL-encoded characters
		dataHash[pieceArray[0]] = pieceArray[1];	// build the associative array
	}

	return dataHash;
}

function packageMessage(nameValues)
{
	// Loop through all the array elements; escape them; assemble them into a string
	var fieldname;
	var packagedStr = '';
	for (fieldname in nameValues)	//loop through all the array names
	{
		fieldname = escape(fieldname);			// escape the field name
		var fieldvalue = escape(nameValues[fieldname]);	// get the value and escape it
		packagedStr += fieldname + "=" + fieldvalue + "&";	// assemble the name/value pairs
	}
	packagedStr = packagedStr.substring(0,packagedStr.length-1);	//chop the last character off (trailing &)

	return packagedStr;
}


/* Post a message using AJAX */

function postMessage(url,msg,resultfunc)
{
	var http_request = false;

	if (window.XMLHttpRequest)	// Mozilla, Safari,...
	{
		http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
		//if (http_request.overrideMimeType){http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');}
	}
	else if (window.ActiveXObject)	// IE
	{
		try
		{
			http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
		}
		catch (e)
		{
			try
			{
				http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
			} catch (e) {}
            }
	}

	if (!http_request)
	{
		//alert('Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
		return false;
	}
	
	http_request.onreadystatechange = function() 
		{
			if (http_request.readyState == 4)
			{
				if (http_request.status == 200)
				{
					var forminput = new Array();
					forminput = parseResponse(http_request.responseText);
					eval(resultfunc + '(forminput);');
            		}
            		else
            		{
            		   // alert('There was a problem with the request.');
            		}
			}
		};
	http_request.open('POST', url, true);
	http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
	http_request.send(msg);
}

function processResponse(http_request)
{
	if (http_request.readyState == 4)
	{
		if (http_request.status == 200)
		{
			var forminput = new Array();
			forminput = parseResponse(http_request.responseText);
            }
            else
            {
               // alert('There was a problem with the request.');
            }
	}
}