/*  GENERIC DOM-RELATED FUNCTIONS  */

// creates and returns a generic element
// designed for simple elements like div or p
// at a minimum, it must be passed an object with a property 'node_type'
var SSDOMCreateElement = function( obj ){
	//window.console.log( obj );
	if( obj.node_type ){
		mn = document.createElement( obj.node_type );

		// loop all properties of obj and add them as attributes
		for( var pr in obj ){
			// proceed if this is not the "node_type" (all other attributes considered real)
			if( pr!='node_type' ){
				// handle special ones
				// text node
				if( pr=='text_node' ){
					tn = SSDOMCreateTextNode( obj.text_node );
					mn.appendChild( tn );
				}
				// default, with extra little bit for class
				else{
					if( pr=='className' ){
						mn.setAttribute( 'class',obj[pr] );
						mn.className = obj[pr];
					}
					else{
						mn.setAttribute( pr,obj[pr] );
					}
				}
			}
		}
		return mn;
	}
	else{
		return null;
	}
};

// creates and returns a text node
var SSDOMCreateTextNode = function( str ){
	tn = null;
	if( str ){
		tn = document.createTextNode( str );
	}
	return tn;
};



/*  GENERIC FUNCTION TO EMPTY A NODE  */
var SSEmptyNode = function( the_node ){
	while( the_node.hasChildNodes() ){
		the_node.removeChild(the_node.firstChild);
	}
	return true;
};
/*  END GENERIC FUNCTION TO EMPTY A NODE  */



/*  GENERIC FUNCTION TO WALK XML DOM NODE AND TURN IT INTO XHTML  */
/*
	this is to work around Safari's "DOM Exception 4" complaint when trying to pass valid XHTML from XML directly into the XHTML DOM it directly into the tree
	ASSUMES THE NODE EQUATES TO VALID XHTML...DON'T PASS ARBITRARY XML TO THIS FUNCTION
*/
var SSXMLElementToXHTMLElement = function( obj ){
	var max = 0;
	// handle an element
	if( obj.nodeType==1 ){
		// create an element of that type
		var this_el = document.createElement( obj.nodeName );

		// loop all of its attributes
		for (var i = 0, max=obj.attributes.length; i < max; i++) {
			if( obj.attributes[i].name=='class' ){
				this_el.className = obj.attributes[i].value;
			}
			else{
				this_el.setAttribute(obj.attributes[i].name,obj.attributes[i].value);
			}
			//alert(  obj.attributes[i].name + ' - ' + obj.attributes[i].value );
		}
		// now loop the children of this element
		for( i = 0; i < obj.childNodes.length; i++ ){
			this_el.appendChild( SSXMLElementToXHTMLElement( obj.childNodes[i] ) );
		}
		return( this_el );
	}
	// handle a text node
	else if( obj.nodeType==3 ){
		// create a text node
		the_txt = document.createTextNode( obj.nodeValue );
		return( the_txt );
	}
	// handle a comment
	
};

/*  END GENERIC FUNCTION TO WALK XML SELECT AND TURN IT INTO XHTML  */