function validateEmail( strValue) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:Validates that a string contains a valid email pattern. 
PARAMETERS:	strValue - String to be tested for validity
RETURNS:	True if valid, otherwise false.
REMARKS:	Accounts for email with country appended
			does not validate that email contains valid URL
			type (.com, .gov, etc.) or valid country suffix.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp  = /(^[a-z]([a-z_\.]*)@([a-z_\.]*)([.][a-z]{3})$)|(^[a-z]([a-z_\.]*)@([a-z_\.]*)(\.[a-z]{3})(\.[a-z]{2})*$)/i;
	return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}

function validateUSPhone( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:Validates that a string contains valid US phone pattern. 
			Ex. (999) 999-9999 or (999)999-9999
PARAMETERS:	strValue - String to be tested for validity
RETURNS:	True if valid, otherwise false.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp  = /^\([1-9]\d{2}\)\s?\d{3}\-\d{4}$/;
	return objRegExp.test(strValue); 
}

function  validateNumeric( strValue ) {
/******************************************************************************
DESCRIPTION:Validates that a string contains only valid numbers.
PARAMETERS:	strValue - String to be tested for validity
RETURNS:	True if valid, otherwise false.
******************************************************************************/
	var objRegExp  =  /(^-?\d\d*\.\d*$)|(^-?\d\d*$)|(^-?\.\d\d*$)/; 
	return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}

function validateInteger( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:Validates that a string contains only valid integer number.
PARAMETERS:	strValue - String to be tested for validity
RETURNS:	True if valid, otherwise false.
******************************************************************************/
	var objRegExp  = /(^-?\d\d*$)/;
	return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}

function validateNotEmpty( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:Validates that a string is not all  blank (whitespace) characters.
PARAMETERS:	strValue - String to be tested for validity
RETURNS:	True if valid, otherwise false.
*************************************************/
	var strTemp = strValue;
	strTemp = trimAll(strTemp);
	if(strTemp.length > 0){
	  return true;
	}  
	return false;
}

function validateUSZip( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION: Validates that a string a United
			 States zip code in 5 digit format or zip+4
			 format. 99999 or 99999-9999
PARAMETERS:	 strValue - String to be tested for validity
RETURNS:	 True if valid, otherwise false.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp  = /(^\d{5}$)|(^\d{5}-\d{4}$)/;
	return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}

function validateUSDate( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION: Validates that a string contains only 
			valid dates with 2 digit month, 2 digit day, 
			4 digit year. Date separator can be ., -, or /.
			Uses combination of regular expressions and 
			string parsing to validate date.
			Ex. mm/dd/yyyy or mm-dd-yyyy or mm.dd.yyyy
PARAMETERS:	strValue - String to be tested for validity
RETURNS:	True if valid, otherwise false.
REMARKS:	Avoids some of the limitations of the Date.parse()
			method such as the date separator character.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp = /^\d{1,2}(\-|\/|\.)\d{1,2}\1\d{4}$/
	//check to see if in correct format
	if(!objRegExp.test(strValue))
		return false; //doesn't match pattern, bad date
	else{
		var strSeparator = strValue.substring(2,3) //find date separator
		var arrayDate = strValue.split(strSeparator); //split date into month, day, year
		//create a lookup for months not equal to Feb.
		var arrayLookup = { '01' : 31,'03' : 31, '04' : 30,'05' : 31,'06' : 30,'07' : 31,
		                    '08' : 31,'09' : 30,'10' : 31,'11' : 30,'12' : 31}
		var intDay = parseInt(arrayDate[1]); 

		//check if month value and day value agree
		if(arrayLookup[arrayDate[0]] != null) {
		  if(intDay <= arrayLookup[arrayDate[0]] && intDay != 0)
		    return true; //found in lookup table, good date
		}
	  
		//check for February
		var intYear = parseInt(arrayDate[2]);
		var intMonth = parseInt(arrayDate[0]);
		if( ((intYear % 4 == 0 && intDay <= 29) || (intYear % 4 != 0 && intDay <=28)) && intDay !=0)
			return true; //Feb. had valid number of days
	}
	return false; //any other values, bad date
}

function validateValue( strValue, strMatchPattern ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:Validates that a string a matches
			a valid regular expression value.
PARAMETERS:	strValue - String to be tested for validity
			strMatchPattern - String containing a valid
			regular expression match pattern.
RETURNS:	True if valid, otherwise false.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp = new RegExp( strMatchPattern);
	//check if string matches pattern
	return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}


function rightTrim( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:	Trims trailing whitespace chars.
PARAMETERS:		strValue - String to be trimmed.  
RETURNS:		Source string with right whitespaces removed.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp = /^([\w\W]*)(\b\s*)$/;
	if(objRegExp.test(strValue)) {
		strValue = strValue.replace(objRegExp, '$1');
    }
	return strValue;
}

function leftTrim( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:	Trims leading whitespace chars.
PARAMETERS:		strValue - String to be trimmed
RETURNS:		Source string with left whitespaces removed.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp = /^(\s*)(\b[\w\W]*)$/;
	if(objRegExp.test(strValue)) {
		strValue = strValue.replace(objRegExp, '$2');
	}
	return strValue;
}

function trimAll( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:	Removes leading and trailing spaces.
PARAMETERS:		Source string from which spaces will be removed;
RETURNS:		Source string with whitespaces removed.
*************************************************/ 
	var objRegExp = /^(\s*)$/;
    if(objRegExp.test(strValue)) {
       strValue = strValue.replace(objRegExp, '');
       if( strValue.length == 0)
          return strValue;
    }
   objRegExp = /^(\s*)([\W\w]*)(\b\s*$)/;
   if(objRegExp.test(strValue)) {
       strValue = strValue.replace(objRegExp, '$2');
    }
  return strValue;
}

function removeCurrency( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:Removes currency formatting from source string.
PARAMETERS: strValue - Source string from which currency formatting will be removed;
RETURNS:	Source string with commas removed.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp = /\(/;
	var strMinus = '';
	if(objRegExp.test(strValue)){
	  strMinus = '-';
	}
	objRegExp = /\)|\(|[,]/g;
	strValue = strValue.replace(objRegExp,'');
	if(strValue.indexOf('$') >= 0){
	  strValue = strValue.substring(1, strValue.length);
	}
	return strMinus + strValue;
}

function addCurrency( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:Formats a number as currency.
PARAMETERS:	strValue - Source string to be formatted
REMARKS:	Assumes number passed is a valid numeric value in the rounded to 2 decimal places.  If not, returns original value.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp = /-?[0-9]+\.[0-9]{2}$/;
	if( objRegExp.test(strValue)) {
		objRegExp.compile('^-');
		strValue = addCommas(strValue);
		if (objRegExp.test(strValue)){
		  strValue = '(' + strValue.replace(objRegExp,'') + ')';
		}
		return '$' + strValue;
	}
	else
		return strValue;
}

function removeCommas( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:Removes commas from source string.
PARAMETERS:	strValue - Source string from which commas will be removed;
RETURNS:	Source string with commas removed.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp = /,/g; //search for commas globally
	return strValue.replace(objRegExp,'');
}

function addCommas( strValue ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:Inserts commas into numeric string.
PARAMETERS: strValue - source string containing commas.
RETURNS:	String modified with comma grouping if
			source was all numeric, otherwise source is returned.
REMARKS:	Used with integers or numbers with
			2 or less decimal places.
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp  = new RegExp('(-?[0-9]+)([0-9]{3})'); 
    while(objRegExp.test(strValue)) {
		//replace original string with first group match, 
		//a comma, then second group match
		strValue = strValue.replace(objRegExp, '$1,$2');
    }
	return strValue;
}

function removeCharacters( strValue, strMatchPattern ) {
/************************************************
DESCRIPTION:	Removes characters from a source string
				based upon matches of the supplied pattern.
PARAMETERS:		strValue - source string containing number.
RETURNS:		String modified with characters 
				matching search pattern removed
USAGE:			strNoSpaces = removeCharacters( ' sfdf  dfd', '\s*')
*************************************************/
	var objRegExp =  new RegExp( strMatchPattern, 'gi' );
	return strValue.replace(objRegExp,'');
}