function setCookie(cookieName, cookieValue) { 
  expiryDate = new Date();
  expiryDate.setTime( expiryDate.getTime() + (24*60*60*1000) ); /// 1 day ahead, in ms
  //expiryDate.setTime( expiryDate.getTime() + (5*60*1000) ); /// 5 minutes ahead, in ms
  document.cookie = cookieName + "=" + cookieValue.toString() + ";" + "expires=" +expiryDate.toGMTString() + ";";
}


//this returns 0 if there are cookies but this named cookie is not among them
// will return 'undefined' if there are no cookies
function getNamedCookie2(cookieName) { 
  if (document.cookie != "") {
	cookiesList = document.cookie.split( "; " );
	result = 0;
	for (i=0; i<cookiesList.length; i++){
	  if (cookieName == cookiesList[i].split("=")[0]) {
		 result = cookiesList[i].split("=")[1];
	  }
	}
	return result;
  }
}


function getNamedCookieNum(cookieName) { 
  if (document.cookie != "") {
	cookiesList = document.cookie.split( "; " );
	result = 0;
	for (i=0; i<cookiesList.length; i++){
	  if (cookieName == cookiesList[i].split("=")[0]) {
		result = cookiesList[i].split("=")[1];
	  }
	}
	return parseInt(result);
  }
}


function readAllCookies() {
  if (document.cookie == ""){
	return "no cookies!";
  }else{
	var returnString = "";
	thisCookie = document.cookie.split("; ");
	//
	for (i=0; i<thisCookie.length; i++){
	  returnString += "\n prop=" + thisCookie[i].split("=")[0];
	  returnString += "\n val=" + thisCookie[i].split("=")[1];
	  returnString += "\n third item=" + thisCookie[i].split("=")[2];
	  returnString += "\n fourth item=" + thisCookie[i].split("=")[3];
	}
	return returnString;
  }
}


function deleteAllCookies() {
  if (document.cookie == ""){
	alert ("no cookies!");
  }else{
	thisCookie = document.cookie.split("; ");
	////
	expiryDate = new Date;
	expiryDate.setDate( expiryDate.getDate() - 1 ); /// yesterday?
	//
	for (i=0; i<thisCookie.length; i++){
	  cookieName = thisCookie[i].split("=")[0];
	  document.cookie = "cookieName=" + cookieName +";expires=" + expiryDate.toGMTString();
	}
	alert ("total cookies deleted = " + thisCookie.length.toString());
  //}
  //alert ("total cookies = " + thisCookie.length.toString());
  }
}