function clearForm(theForm) {
	counter = 0;
	while (counter < theForm.length) {
		if (theForm[counter].type == 'checkbox' || theForm[counter].type == 'radio') {
			theForm[counter].checked = false;
		} else if (theForm[counter].type == 'select-one' || theForm[counter].type == 'select-multiple') {
			theForm[counter].selectedIndex = 0;
		} else {
			theForm[counter].value = "";
		}
		counter++;
	}
	return false;
}


function switchChecks(theForm) {
	counter = 0;
	while (counter < theForm.length) {
		if (theForm[counter].type == 'checkbox') {
			theCheck = theForm[counter];
			if (theCheck.checked) {
				theCheck.checked = false;
			} else {
				theCheck.checked = true;
			}
		}
		counter++;
	}
	return false;
}

//returns false if the next element does not exist or if this element is not part of a form
//or is not numbered.
//if the field name ends in a number, it adds one to the number and returns that next element
//currently only works for from 0 to 9; i.e., no two-digit numbers
function getNextField(theElement) {
	if (theForm = theElement.form) {
		formName =theForm.name;
		elementName = theElement.name;
		
		nameLength = elementName.length;
		lastChar = elementName.substr(elementName.length-1, 1);
		if (lastChar >= "0" && lastChar <= "9") {
			//yes, this was at one time the official way of converting strings to numbers: subtract zero
			lastChar = lastChar - 0 + 1;
			newName = elementName.substr(0, elementName.length-1) + lastChar.toString();
			if (nextElement = theForm[newName]) {
				return nextElement;
			}
		}
	}
	
	return false;
}

function advanceField(theEvent) {
	if (!theEvent) {
		theEvent = window.event;
	}
	
	//get the current element from netscape or explorer event models
	//this may not work--it may error out on the non-existent property
	theElement = theEvent.target;
	if (!theElement) {
		theElement = theEvent.srcElement;
	}
	
	elementName = theElement.name;

	if (theElement) {
	
		//get the key that was just pressed, from netscape or explorer event models
		theKey = theEvent.which;
		if (!theKey) {
			theKey = theEvent.keyCode;
		}
	
		if (theKey == 46 || theKey == 58) {
			//this is a period or a colon.
			//jump to the next field
			if (nextField = getNextField(theElement)) {
				nextField.focus();
				nextField.select();
				return false;
			}
		}
	}
	
	return true;
}