function setCookie(c_name, value, expiredays) {
    var exdate = new Date();
    exdate.setDate(exdate.getDate() + expiredays);
    document.cookie = c_name + "=" + value +
    ((expiredays == null) ? "" : ";expires=" + exdate.toGMTString());
}

function getCookie(check_name) {
    // first we'll split this cookie up into name/value pairs
    // note: document.cookie only returns name=value, not the other components
    var a_all_cookies = document.cookie.split(';');
    var a_temp_cookie = '';
    var cookie_name = '';
    var cookie_value = '';
    var b_cookie_found = false; // set boolean t/f default f

    for (i = 0; i < a_all_cookies.length; i++) {
        // now we'll split apart each name=value pair
        a_temp_cookie = a_all_cookies[i].split('=');


        // and trim left/right whitespace while we're at it
        cookie_name = a_temp_cookie[0].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');

        // if the extracted name matches passed check_name
        if (cookie_name == check_name) {
            b_cookie_found = true;
            // we need to handle case where cookie has no value but exists (no = sign, that is):
            if (a_temp_cookie.length > 1) {
                cookie_value = unescape(a_temp_cookie[1].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, ''));
            }
            // note that in cases where cookie is initialized but no value, null is returned
            return cookie_value;
            break;
        }
        a_temp_cookie = null;
        cookie_name = '';
    }
    if (!b_cookie_found) {
        return null;
    }
}