function addParameter(uri, key, value)
{
	// See http://xkr.us/articles/javascript/encode-compare/
	var separator = "?";
	if (uri.indexOf("?") >= 0)
		separator = "&";
	return uri + separator + key + "=" + encodeURIComponent(value);
}

// Function below to instantiate an XMLHttpRequest object
// Credits: http://jibbering.com/2002/4/httprequest.html
// Credits: http://www.toutjavascript.com/savoir/xmlhttprequest.php3
function newHttpRequest()
{
	var httpRequest = false;
	if(window.XMLHttpRequest)
		// Firefox, Mozilla, Safari
		httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
	else if(window.ActiveXObject) 
		// Internet Explorer
		{	try {  
 				httpRequest = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
			} catch (e) {
  				try {
   					httpRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
				} catch (E) {
					httpRequest = false;
 	 			}
			}
		}
	return httpRequest;
}

// Functions below to rebuild the xml string of an element
function xmlString (element) {
	var xml = "";
	for ( var x = 1 ; x <= element.childNodes.length ;  x++ ) {
		var node = element.childNodes[x-1];
		xml += outerXmlString(node);
	}
	return xml;
}
function outerXmlString (element) {
	if (!element.tagName)
		return element.data;
	var xml = "<" + element.tagName;
	for ( var x = 1 ; x <= element.attributes.length ;  x++ ) {
		var attr = element.attributes[x-1];
		xml += " " + attr.name + "=" + '"' + attr.value + '"';
	}
	xml += ">";
	for ( var x = 1 ; x <= element.childNodes.length ;  x++ ) {
		var node = element.childNodes[x-1];
		xml += outerXmlString(node);
	}
	xml += "</" + element.tagName + ">";
	return xml;
}

// Function below to get stable equivalent of document.getElementsByTagName("*")
// Credits: http://www.siteexperts.com/tips/contents/ts16/page3.asp
function getAllElements(document)
{
	var elements = [];
	getElements(elements,document.childNodes[0])
	return elements;   
}

// Function below to recursively and deeply collect all sub-elements of an element
// Credits: http://www.siteexperts.com/tips/contents/ts16/page3.asp
function getElements(collection, element) {
	if (element == null) return;
	for ( var x = 1 ; x <= element.childNodes.length ; x++ ) {
		var node = element.childNodes[x-1];
		if (node.nodeType == 1) {
			collection[collection.length] = node[x-1];
				getElements(collection,element);
		}
	}
}

// Function below to detect if the id of any parent of an element is part of an array
function includes(collection, element) {
	var parent = element.parentNode;
	while (parent.tagName) {
		var attributes = parent.attributes;
		if (attributes.length > 0) {
			for ( var ax = 1 ; ax <= attributes.length ; ax++ ) {
				var attr = attributes[ax-1];
				var attrName = attr.name;
				if (attrName == "id") {
					for ( var x = 1 ; x <= collection.length ; x++ ) {
						if (collection[x-1] == attr.value) return true;
					}
				}
			}
		}
		parent = parent.parentNode;
	}
	return false;
}

// Get the text of the body element
function bodyText(doc)
{
	var elements = doc.getElementsByTagName("*");
	if (elements.length == 0) {
		// IE does not support the above, use an alternative hard-coded technique
		elements = getAllElements(doc)
	}
	// Find html elements with the id= attribute
	for ( var x = 1 ; x <= elements.length ; x++ ) {
		var elem = elements[x-1];
		if (elem.tagName == "BODY") {
			var body = xmlString(elem);
		}
	}
	return body;	
}