function stripHTML(strText){

		var tmp = strText.replace(/<br>/gi,"\n");
		return tmp.replace(/<[^>]+>/g,"");

	}


/*
 *	function generateCompareFunc
 *
 *	recieves the column number and the table body object.
 *	The column number is used to examine the column clicked on.
 *	The body object is used in conjunction with the column number to 
 *	access the first cell in order to decide what type of data is held in that column.
 *	Depending on the result of the call to getType the data is converted accordingly and then 
 *	the comparison is made.
 */

function generateCompareFunc(iCol, oTableBody){

	var sample = getType(oTableBody.rows[0].cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);

	return function compareTRows(oTRow1, oTRow2){

		switch(sample) {

		case "dateNum":

			var value1 = convertDateNum(oTRow1.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			var value2 = convertDateNum(oTRow2.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			break;

		case "dateStr":

			var value1 = convertDateStr(oTRow1.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			var value2 = convertDateStr(oTRow2.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			break;

		case "currency":

			var value1 = convertCurrency(oTRow1.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			var value2 = convertCurrency(oTRow2.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			break;

		case "time":

			var value1 = convertTime(oTRow1.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			var value2 = convertTime(oTRow2.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			break;

		case "float":

			var value1 = convertFloat(oTRow1.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			var value2 = convertFloat(oTRow2.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			break;

		case "int":

			var value1 = convertInt(oTRow1.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			var value2 = convertInt(oTRow2.cells[iCol].firstChild.nodeValue);
			break;	

		default:
		
			var value1 = stripHTML(oTRow1.cells[iCol].innerHTML);
			var value2 = stripHTML(oTRow2.cells[iCol].innerHTML);

			value1 = value1.toLowerCase();
			value2 = value2.toLowerCase();


		}


		if(value1 > value2){

			return 1;

		}else if(value2 > value1){

			return -1;

		}else {

			return 0;

		}

	}

}


/*
 *	function sortTable
 *
 *	recieves the TH element clicked on and is used to find the parent table element.
 *	the table object can then be used to find the relative tbody object which 
 *	contains the data to be sorted.
 *
 */

function sortTable(oTHead){

	var oTable = oTHead.parentNode.parentNode.parentNode;

	var oTableHCells = oTable.tHead.rows[0].cells;

	// find the column clicked on to establish the column index

	for(var i=0; i<oTableHCells.length; i++){

		if(oTableHCells[i] == oTHead){

			var iCol = i;

		}

	}

	var oTableBody = oTable.tBodies[0];
	var oTableRows = oTableBody.rows;

	//put tbody rows into an array to be sorted

	var arrRows = [];

	for (var i=0; i < oTableRows.length; i++){

		arrRows.push(oTableRows[i]);

	}

	// if this is the 2nd time in a row the column has been clicked on, no sorting is needed
	// just reverse to simulate switching from asc to desc

	if(oTable.sortCol == iCol){

		arrRows.reverse();

	}else {

		arrRows.sort(generateCompareFunc(iCol, oTableBody));

		// if no change has taken place, reverse

		changed = false;

		for(var i=0; i<arrRows.length; i++){

			if(arrRows[i] !== oTableRows[i]){

				changed = true;

			}

		}

		if(!changed) arrRows.reverse();

	}

	// rearrange table into new order


	var oTableFragment = document.createDocumentFragment();

	for(var i=0; i < arrRows.length; i++){

		arrRows[i].className = (i%2==0)?"odd":"even";
		oTableFragment.appendChild(arrRows[i]);

	}

	oTableBody.appendChild(oTableFragment);
	oTable.sortCol = iCol;

}

/*
 *	RegExp patterns
 *
 *	reNumDate matches dates in numerical dd/mm/yy[yy] [H:M] format
 *
 *	reStrDate matches dates in string (dd mmmm | mmmm dd) yy[yy] [H:M] format
 *
 *	reTime matches times in numerical H:M [am or pm optional] 12 or 24 hour format
 *
 *	reCurrency matches pounds sterling in [-]0-9[.[0-9]] format
 *
 *	reFloat matches floating point numbers in 0-9.0-9 format
 *
 *	reInt matches integers in 0-9 format
 */

	reNumDate = /(0?[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])[\/\.:](0?[1-9]|1[0-2])[\/\.:]((?:19|20\d{2})|(?:[7890][0-9]))(?: (0?[0-9]{1}|[0-1]{1}[0-9]{1}|[2]{1}[0-3]{1})[:\,]([0-5]{1}[0-9]{1}) ?(am|pm)?)?/;

	reStrDate = /(?:(0?[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])[ ]?(?:st|nd|rd|th)?[ ]?(jan(?:uary)?|feb(?:ruary)?|mar(?:ch)?|apr(?:il)?|may|june|july|aug(?:ust)?|sept(?:ember)?|oct(?:ober)?|nov(?:ember)?|dec(?:ember)?)[ ]?((?:19|20\d{2})|(?:[7890][0-9]))|(jan(?:uary)?|feb(?:ruary)?|mar(?:ch)?|apr(?:il)?|may|june|july|aug(?:ust)?|sept(?:ember)?|oct(?:ober)?|nov(?:ember)?|dec(?:ember)?)[ ]?(0?[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])[ ]?(?:st|nd|rd|th)?[ ]?((?:19|20\d{2})|(?:[7890][0-9])))/i;

	reTime = /(?:(0?[0-9]{1}|[0-1]{1}[0-9]{1}|[2]{1}[0-3]{1})[:\,]([0-5]{1}[0-9]{1}) ?(am|pm)?)$/i;

	reCurrency = /^(\-)?(?:\|\&pound\;|\&\#163\;|\xA3)([0-9]+)(?:[\.:\,]{1}([0-9]{1,2}))?/;

	reFloat = /^(\-)?([0-9]+\.[0-9]+)$/;

	reInt = /^(\-)?([0-9]+)$/;



/*
 *	function getType
 *
 *	compares the str supplied against each pattern in turn and returns it's type when it matches one
 *	
 *
 */

	function getType(strSample){

		if(reNumDate.test(strSample)){

			return "dateNum";

		}
		if(reStrDate.test(strSample)){

			return "dateStr";

		}
		if(reCurrency.test(strSample)){

			return "currency";

		}
		if(reTime.test(strSample)){

			return "time";

		}
		if(reFloat.test(strSample)){

			return "float";

		}
		if(reInt.test(strSample)){

			return "int";

		}

		return "string";

	}


/*
 *	function convertDateNum
 *
 *	converts a numerical date string into a date object
 *	
 *
 */

	function convertDateNum(strValue){

		if(reNumDate.test(strValue)){

			var timeset = false;
			var dateStr;

			var day = RegExp.$1;
			var month = RegExp.$2;
			var year = RegExp.$3;
			var hour = RegExp.$4 || false;
			var minute = RegExp.$5 || false;
			var ampm = RegExp.$6 || false;

			if(year.length == 2){

				if(year < 70){

					year = "20" + year;

				}else {

					year = "19" + year;

				}

			}

			if(hour && minute) {

				timeset = true;

				if(ampm.toLowerCase() == "pm" && hour < 12){

					hour = parseInt(hour) + 12;

				}

				if(ampm.toLowerCase() == "am" && hour == '12'){

					hour = '00';

				}

			}


			dateStr = month + "/" + day + "/" + year;

			if(timeset){

				dateStr += " " + hour + ":" + minute + ":00";

			}

			return new Date(Date.parse(dateStr));

		}

		return 0;

	}


/*
 *	function convertDateStr
 *
 *	converts a date string into a date object
 *	
 *
 */

	function convertDateStr(strValue){

		if(reStrDate.test(strValue)){

			var timeset = false;
			var dateStr;

			var day = RegExp.$1 || RegExp.$5;
			var month = RegExp.$2 || RegExp.$4;
			var year = RegExp.$3 || RegExp.$6;
			var hour = false;
			var minute = false;
			var ampm = false;

			if(year.length == 2){

				if(year < 70){

					year = "20" + year;

				}else {

					year = "19" + year;

				}

			}

			if(reTime.test(strValue)){

				timeset = true;

				hour = RegExp.$1;
				minute = RegExp.$2;
				ampm = RegExp.$3;

				if(ampm.toLowerCase() == "pm" && hour < 12){

					hour = parseInt(hour) + 12;

				}

				if(ampm.toLowerCase() == "am" && hour == '12'){

					hour = '00';

				}

			}

			dateStr = day + ' ' + month + ' ' + year;

			if(timeset){

				dateStr += " " + hour + ":" + minute + ":00";

			}

			
			return new Date(Date.parse(dateStr));

		}

		return 0;

	}


/*
 *	function convertCurrency
 *
 *	converts a currency string into a floating point number
 *	
 *
 */

	function convertCurrency(strValue){

		if(reCurrency.test(strValue)){

			var posNeg = RegExp.$1 || '';
			var pound = RegExp.$2;
			var pence = RegExp.$3 || '00';

			return parseFloat(posNeg + pound + '.' + pence);

		}

		return 0;

	}


/*
 *	function convertTime
 *
 *	converts a numerical time string into a floating point number
 *	
 *
 */

	function convertTime(strValue){

		if(reTime.test(strValue)){

			var hour = RegExp.$1;
			var minute = RegExp.$2;
			var ampm = RegExp.$3;

			if(ampm.toLowerCase() == "pm" && hour < 12){

				hour = parseInt(hour) + 12;

			}

			if(ampm.toLowerCase() == "am" && hour == '12'){

				hour = '00';

			}

			return parseFloat(hour + '.' + minute);
		}

		return 0;

	}


/*
 *	function convertFloat
 *
 *	converts a numerical string into a floating point number
 *	
 *
 */

	function convertFloat(strValue){

		return parseFloat(strValue);

	}


/*
 *	function convertInt
 *
 *	converts a numerical string into an integer
 *	
 *
 */

	function convertInt(strValue){

		return parseInt(strValue);

	}