// This function extracts cookie by name and returns its value.
function getCookie(byname)
{  
	escape(byname);
	byname=byname+"=";
	nlen = byname.length;
	fromN = document.cookie.indexOf(byname)+0;
	if ((fromN) != -1) 
	{
		fromN +=nlen;
		toN=document.cookie.indexOf(";",fromN)+0;
		if(toN == -1) 
		{
			toN=document.cookie.length;
		} 
		return unescape(document.cookie.substring(fromN,toN));
	} 
	return null;
}

// This function writes the new data to the viewer's cookie.
function setCookie(name,value,time)
{
	exp = new Date();
	if ((name==null) || (value==null)) 
		return false; 
	if (time==null) 
		time=365;	// default 1 year
	time *= 86400000;	// convert to milliseconds                         	
	exp.setTime(exp.getTime()+time);
	document.cookie =escape(name)+"="+escape(value)+"; "+"expires="+exp.toGMTString();
	return true;
}