function setCookie(name, value, expires, path, domain, secure)
{
  // set time, it's in milliseconds
  var today = new Date();
  today.setTime(today.getTime());

  /*
  if the expires variable is set, make the correct
  expires time, the current script below will set
  it for x number of days, to make it for hours,
  delete * 24, for minutes, delete * 60 * 24
  */
  if (expires)
  {
    expires = expires * 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24;
  }
  var expires_date = new Date(today.getTime() + (expires));

  document.cookie = name + "=" + value +
                    ( ( expires ) ? ";expires=" + expires_date.toGMTString() : "" ) +
                    ( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "" ) +
                    ( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) +
                    ( ( secure ) ? ";secure" : "" );
}

// this function gets the cookie, if it exists
function getCookie(name) {
  var start = document.cookie.indexOf(name + "=");
  var len = start + name.length + 1;
  if (( !start ) &&
      ( name != document.cookie.substring(0, name.length) ))
  {
    return null;
  }
  if (start == -1) return null;
  var end = document.cookie.indexOf(";", len);
  if (end == -1) end = document.cookie.length;
  return unescape(document.cookie.substring(len, end));
}

// this deletes the cookie when called
function deleteCookie(name, path, domain) {
  if (getCookie(name)) {
    document.cookie = name + "=" +
                      ( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "") +
                      ( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) +
                      ";expires=Thu, 01-Jan-1970 00:00:01 GMT";
  }
}