<!-- hiding from old browsers
/* returns true if the given value is empty (null or "") */
function util_isEmpty(value) {
	if (value == null || value == "") {
		return true;
	} else {
		return false;
	}
}

/* returns true if the data has any special characters */
function util_hasSpecialChar(value) {
	pattern = /[^a-zA-Z0-9]+/;
	if (pattern.test(value)) {
		return true;
	} else {
		return false;
	}
}

/* returns true if there is anything besides spaces and periods */
function util_notNormalText(value) {
	pattern = /[^a-zA-Z0-9\s\.]+/;
	if (pattern.test(value)) {
		return true;
	} else {
		return false;
	}
}

/* returns true if the data has any characters at all */ 
function util_hasChar(value) { 
	pattern = /[^0-9]+/;
	if (pattern.test(value)) {
		return true;
	} else {
		return false;
	}
}

/* returns true if the value represents a valid email address */
function util_isValidEmail(email) {
	pattern  = /^([a-zA-Z0-9_\.\-])+\@(([a-zA-Z0-9\-])+\.)+([a-zA-Z0-9]{2,4})+$/;
	if (pattern.test(email)) {
		return false;
	} else {
		return true;
	}
}
-->