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));

  }

  function setCookie(name, value, expires, path, domain, secure) {

    var today = new Date();

    today.setTime(today.getTime());

    if (expires) {

      expires = expires * 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24;

    }

    var expires_date = new Date(today.getTime() + (expires));

    document.cookie = name + '=' + escape(value) +

      ( ( expires ) ? ';expires=' + expires_date.toGMTString() : '' ) +

      ( ( path ) ? ';path=' + path : '' ) +

      ( ( domain ) ? ';domain=' + domain : '' ) +

      ( ( secure ) ? ';secure' : '' );

  }