$ = function(id)
{
	return document.getElementById(id);
}

function retrieveStyle(el, styleName)
{
    var IEstyleName = styleName;
    if(styleName.indexOf('-') > 0)
    {
        var strgs = styleName.split('-');
        var str = strgs[0]+strgs[1].substring(0,1).toUpperCase() + strgs[1].substring(1,strgs[1].length);
        
        for(var i = 2; i< strgs.length; i++)
        {
            str += strgs[i].substring(0,1).toUpperCase() + strgs[i].substring(1,strgs[i].length);
        }
        
        IEstyleName = str;
    }
    
	if (el.currentStyle)
		var y = el.currentStyle[IEstyleName];
	else if (window.getComputedStyle)
		var y = document.defaultView.getComputedStyle(el,null).getPropertyValue(styleName);

	return y;
}

function getTextNodes(node)
{
	if(node.nodeType==3)//textnode
	{
		return node.nodeValue;
	}
	else
	{
		var ret="";
		for(var i=0; i<node.childNodes.length; i++)
		{
			ret += getTextNodes(node.childNodes[i]);
		}
		return ret;
	}
	
}

function trim(value) 
{
    return value.replace(/^\s*/, "").replace(/\s*$/, "");
}