function checkForm(thisform){

//-------- START GLOBAL VARIABLES -------- //
	var returnval=true;

	var digits = "0123456789";
	var phoneNumberDelimiters = "()- ";
	var validWorldPhoneChars = phoneNumberDelimiters + "+";
	var minDigitsInIPhoneNumber = 10;
	var dtCh= "/";
	var minYear=1900;
	var maxYear=2100;
	var defCent=20;
//-------- END GLOBAL VARIABLES -------- //
			
//-------- START GLOBAL FUNCTIONS -------- //
	function isInteger(s)
	{   var i;
	    for (i = 0; i < s.length; i++)
	    {   
	        // Check that current character is number.
	        var c = s.charAt(i);
	        if (((c < "0") || (c > "9"))) return false;
	    }
	    // All characters are numbers.
	    return true;
	}
	
/*
==================================================================
LTrim(string) : Returns a copy of a string without leading spaces.
==================================================================
*/
function LTrim(str)
/*
   PURPOSE: Remove leading blanks from our string.
   IN: str - the string we want to LTrim
*/
{
   var whitespace = new String(" \t\n\r");

   var s = new String(str);

   if (whitespace.indexOf(s.charAt(0)) != -1) {
      // We have a string with leading blank(s)...

      var j=0, i = s.length;

      // Iterate from the far left of string until we
      // don't have any more whitespace...
      while (j < i && whitespace.indexOf(s.charAt(j)) != -1)
         j++;

      // Get the substring from the first non-whitespace
      // character to the end of the string...
      s = s.substring(j, i);
   }
   return s;
}

/*
==================================================================
RTrim(string) : Returns a copy of a string without trailing spaces.
==================================================================
*/
function RTrim(str)
/*
   PURPOSE: Remove trailing blanks from our string.
   IN: str - the string we want to RTrim

*/
{
   // We don't want to trip JUST spaces, but also tabs,
   // line feeds, etc.  Add anything else you want to
   // "trim" here in Whitespace
   var whitespace = new String(" \t\n\r");

   var s = new String(str);

   if (whitespace.indexOf(s.charAt(s.length-1)) != -1) {
      // We have a string with trailing blank(s)...

      var i = s.length - 1;       // Get length of string

      // Iterate from the far right of string until we
      // don't have any more whitespace...
      while (i >= 0 && whitespace.indexOf(s.charAt(i)) != -1)
         i--;


      // Get the substring from the front of the string to
      // where the last non-whitespace character is...
      s = s.substring(0, i+1);
   }

   return s;
}

/*
=============================================================
Trim(string) : Returns a copy of a string without leading or trailing spaces
=============================================================
*/
function Trim(str)
/*
   PURPOSE: Remove trailing and leading blanks from our string.
   IN: str - the string we want to Trim

   RETVAL: A Trimmed string!
*/
{
   return RTrim(LTrim(str));
}

	function stripCharsInBag(s, bag)
	{   var i;
	    var returnString = "";
	    // Search through string's characters one by one.
	    // If character is not in bag, append to returnString.
	    for (i = 0; i < s.length; i++)
	    {   
	        // Check that current character isn't whitespace.
	        var c = s.charAt(i);
	        if (bag.indexOf(c) == -1) returnString += c;
	    }
	    return returnString;
	}
	
	function checkInternationalPhone(strPhone){
		s=stripCharsInBag(strPhone,validWorldPhoneChars);
	return (isInteger(s) && s.length == minDigitsInIPhoneNumber);
	}
	
	function reformat (s)
	
	{   var arg;
	    var sPos = 0;
	    var resultString = "";
	
	    for (var i = 1; i < reformat.arguments.length; i++) {
	       arg = reformat.arguments[i];
	       if (i % 2 == 1) resultString += arg;
	       else {
	           resultString += s.substring(sPos, sPos + arg);
	           sPos += arg;
	       }
	    }
	    return resultString;
	}
	
	function reformatUSPhone (USPhone){
		return (reformat (USPhone, "", 3, "-", 3, "-", 4))
	}

	function daysInFebruary (year){
		// February has 29 days in any year evenly divisible by four,
	    // EXCEPT for centurial years which are not also divisible by 400.
	    return (((year % 4 == 0) && ( (!(year % 100 == 0)) || (year % 400 == 0))) ? 29 : 28 );
	}
	function DaysArray(n) {
		for (var i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
			this[i] = 31
			if (i==4 || i==6 || i==9 || i==11) {this[i] = 30}
			if (i==2) {this[i] = 29}
	   } 
	   return this
	}
	
	function isDate(dtStr){
		var daysInMonth = DaysArray(12)
		var pos1=dtStr.indexOf(dtCh)
		var pos2=dtStr.indexOf(dtCh,pos1+1)
		var strMonth=dtStr.substring(0,pos1)
		var strDay=dtStr.substring(pos1+1,pos2)
		var strYear=dtStr.substring(pos2+1)
		strYr=strYear
		if (strDay.charAt(0)=="0" && strDay.length>1) strDay=strDay.substring(1)
		if (strMonth.charAt(0)=="0" && strMonth.length>1) strMonth=strMonth.substring(1)
		if (strYr.length == 2) strYr=defCent + strYr
		for (var i = 1; i <= 3; i++) {
			if (strYr.charAt(0)=="0" && strYr.length>1) strYr=strYr.substring(1)
		}
		month=parseInt(strMonth)
		day=parseInt(strDay)
		year=parseInt(strYr)

		if (pos1==-1 || pos2==-1){
			alert("The date format should be : mm/dd/yyyy")
			return false
		}
		if (strMonth.length<1 || month<1 || month>12){
			alert("Please enter a valid month")
			return false
		}
		if (strDay.length<1 || day<1 || day>31 || (month==2 && day>daysInFebruary(year)) || day > daysInMonth[month]){
			alert("Please enter a valid day")
			return false
		}
		if (strYear.length != 4 && strYear.length != 2 || year==0 || year<minYear || year>maxYear){
			alert("Please enter a valid 4 digit year between "+minYear+" and "+maxYear)
			return false
		}
		if (dtStr.indexOf(dtCh,pos2+1)!=-1 || isInteger(stripCharsInBag(dtStr, dtCh))==false){
			alert("Please enter a valid date")
			return false
		}
	return true
	}
//-------- END GLOBAL FUNCTIONS -------- //


//-------- START FORM VALIDATION FUNCTIONS -------- //
	for (var j=0; j<(thisform.elements.length); j++){
		//------ If the field is required -----//

		//if (indx != -1){
		if (thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_required') != -1){
			indx = thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_required');
			fieldname=thisform.elements[j].name.substring(0,indx);
			fieldType = thisform.elements[fieldname].type;
			
			//------ If the form field is a checkbox or a radio button -----//
			if (thisform.elements[fieldname].length) {
				var radioLength = thisform.elements[fieldname].length;
				var selectTotal = 0;
				for (i=0; i<radioLength; i++) {
					if (fieldType == 'select-one' | fieldType == 'select-multiple'){
						if (thisform.elements[fieldname][i].selected & thisform.elements[fieldname][i].value != "") {
							selectTotal++;	
						}
					} else {
						if (thisform.elements[fieldname][i].checked) {
							selectTotal++;	
						}
					}		
				}		
				if (selectTotal == 0 ){
					alert(thisform.elements[j].value);
					j = (thisform.elements.length);
					returnval = false;
				}
				i = (thisform.elements.length);
			}


			//------ Otherwise if it is a text field -----//
			else {
				//if (trim(thisform.elements[fieldname].value).length)
				//alert(Trim(thisform.elements[fieldname].value));
				//if (thisform.elements[fieldname].value.length == 0){
				if (Trim(thisform.elements[fieldname].value).length == 0){
					alert(thisform.elements[j].value);
					thisform.elements[fieldname].focus();
					j = (thisform.elements.length);
					returnval = false;
				}
			}
		}
		
		//------ If the fieldType is email -----//
		else if (thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_email') != -1){
			indx = thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_email');
			fieldname=thisform.elements[j].name.substring(0,indx);
			emailStr = thisform.elements[fieldname].value;
			emailReg1 = /(@.*@)|(\.\.)|(@\.)|(\.@)|(^\.)/; // not valid
			//emailReg2 = /^.+\@(\[?)[a-zA-Z0-9\-\.]+\.([a-zA-Z]{2,6}|[0-9]{1,3})(\]?)$/; // valid
			emailReg2 = /^([\w-]+(?:\.[\w-]+)*)@((?:[\w-]+\.)*\w[\w-]{0,66})\.([a-z]{2,6}(?:\.[a-z]{2})?)$/i; // valid
			if (!emailReg1.test(emailStr) && emailReg2.test(emailStr)||emailStr.length==0) {// if syntax is valid
				returnval = true;
				}
			else {
				alert(thisform.elements[j].value);
				thisform.elements[fieldname].focus();
				j = (thisform.elements.length);
				returnval = false;
			}
		}
		
		//------ If the fieldType is currency -----//
		else if (thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_currency') != -1){
			indx = thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_currency');
			fieldname=thisform.elements[j].name.substring(0,indx);
			currencyStr = thisform.elements[fieldname].value;
			
			for (var i = 0; i < currencyStr.length; i++) {
				if ((currencyStr.charAt(i) < '0' || currencyStr.charAt(i) > '9') && (currencyStr.charAt(i) != '.')) {
					alert(thisform.elements[j].value);
					thisform.elements[fieldname].focus();
					i = (currencyStr.length);
					j = (thisform.elements.length);
					returnval = false;
				}
			}
		}
		
		//------ If the fieldType is integer -----//
		else if (thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_integer') != -1){
			indx = thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_integer');
			fieldname=thisform.elements[j].name.substring(0,indx);
			integerStr = thisform.elements[fieldname].value;
			
			for (var i = 0; i < integerStr.length; i++) {
				if ((integerStr.charAt(i) < '0' || integerStr.charAt(i) > '9')) {
					alert(thisform.elements[j].value);
					thisform.elements[fieldname].focus();
					i = (integerStr.length);
					j = (thisform.elements.length);
					returnval = false;
				}
			}
		}		
		
		//------ If the fieldType is min -----//
		else if (thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_min') != -1){
			indx = thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_min');
			fieldname=thisform.elements[j].name.substring(0,indx);
			strField = thisform.elements[fieldname].value;

			if (strField.length < thisform.elements[j].value) {
				alert('The ' + fieldname + ' field must be at least ' + thisform.elements[j].value + ' characters.');
				thisform.elements[fieldname].focus();
				return false;
			}
		}
		
		//------ If the fieldType is max -----//
		else if (thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_max') != -1){
			indx = thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_max');
			fieldname=thisform.elements[j].name.substring(0,indx);
			strField = thisform.elements[fieldname].value;

			if (strField.length > thisform.elements[j].value) {
				alert('The ' + fieldname + ' field cannot be greater than ' + thisform.elements[j].value + ' characters.');
				thisform.elements[fieldname].focus();
				return false;
			}
		}

		//------ If the fieldType is date -----//
		else if (thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_date') != -1){
			indx = thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_date');
			fieldname=thisform.elements[j].name.substring(0,indx);
			strField = thisform.elements[fieldname].value;

			for (var i = 0; i < strField.length; i++) {
				if (isDate(strField)==false) {
					//alert(thisform.elements[j].value);
					thisform.elements[fieldname].focus();
					return false;
				}
			}	
		}

		//------ If the fieldType is usphone -----//
		else if ((thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_usphone') != -1) && (thisform.country.value == "" || thisform.country.value == "United States")){
			indx = thisform.elements[j].name.indexOf('_usphone');
			fieldname=thisform.elements[j].name.substring(0,indx);
			strField = thisform.elements[fieldname].value;
			
			if (checkInternationalPhone(strField)==false){
				alert(thisform.elements[j].value)
				//Phone.value=""
				thisform.elements[fieldname].focus();
				return false
			}
			else{
				thisform.elements[fieldname].value=reformatUSPhone(stripCharsInBag(strField,validWorldPhoneChars));
			}
		}
	}
//-------- END FORM VALIDATION FUNCTIONS -------- //
	return returnval;
}