function checkMail (emailStr) {
<!-- Sandeep V. Tamhankar-javascript.internet.com -->

/* The following variable tells the rest of the function whether or
not to verify that the address ends in a two-letter country or
well-known TLD (top-level domain).  1 means check it, 0 means
don't. */
var checkTLD=1;

/* The following is the list of known TLDs that an e-mail address must
end with. */
var knownDomsPat=/^(com|net|org|edu|int|mil|gov|arpa|biz|aero|name|coop|info|pro|museum)$/;

/* The following pattern is used to check if the entered e-mail
address fits the user@domain format.  It also is used to separate the
username from the domain. */
var emailPat=/^(.+)@(.+)$/;

/* The following string represents the pattern for matching all special
characters.  We don't want to allow special characters in the address. 
These characters include ( ) < > @ , ; : \ " . [ ] */
var specialChars="\\(\\)><@,;:\\\\\\\"\\.\\[\\]";

/* The following string represents the range of characters allowed in a 
username or domainname.  It really states which chars aren't allowed.*/
var validChars="\[^\\s" + specialChars + "\]";

/* The following pattern applies if the "user" is a quoted string (in
which case, there are no rules about which characters are allowed
and which aren't; anything goes).  E.g. "jiminy cricket"@disney.com
is a legal e-mail address. */
var quotedUser="(\"[^\"]*\")";

/* The following pattern applies for domains that are IP addresses,
rather than symbolic names.  E.g. joe@[123.124.233.4] is a legal
e-mail address. NOTE: The square brackets are required. */
var ipDomainPat=/^\[(\d{1,3})\.(\d{1,3})\.(\d{1,3})\.(\d{1,3})\]$/;

/* The following string represents an atom (basically a series of non-special characters.) */
var atom=validChars + '+';

/* The following string represents one word in the typical username.
For example, in john.doe@somewhere.com, john and doe are words.
Basically, a word is either an atom or quoted string. */
var word="(" + atom + "|" + quotedUser + ")";

// The following pattern describes the structure of the user
var userPat=new RegExp("^" + word + "(\\." + word + ")*$");

/* The following pattern describes the structure of a normal symbolic
domain, as opposed to ipDomainPat, shown above. */
var domainPat=new RegExp("^" + atom + "(\\." + atom +")*$");

/* Begin with the coarse pattern to simply break up user@domain into
different pieces that are easy to analyze. */

var matchArray=emailStr.match(emailPat);

if (matchArray==null) {

/* Too many/few @'s or something; basically, this address doesn't
even fit the general mould of a valid e-mail address. */

alert("Email address seems incorrect (check @ and .'s)");
return false;
}
var user=matchArray[1];
var domain=matchArray[2];

// Start by checking that only basic ASCII characters are in the strings (0-127).

for (i=0; i<user.length; i++) {
if (user.charCodeAt(i)>127) {
alert("Ths username contains invalid characters.");
return false;
   }
}
for (i=0; i<domain.length; i++) {
if (domain.charCodeAt(i)>127) {
alert("Ths domain name contains invalid characters.");
return false;
   }
}

// See if "user" is valid 
if (user.match(userPat)==null) {
alert("The username doesn't seem to be valid.");
return false;
}

/* if the e-mail address is at an IP address (as opposed to a symbolic
host name) make sure the IP address is valid. */
var IPArray=domain.match(ipDomainPat);
if (IPArray!=null) {

// this is an IP address
for (var i=1;i<=4;i++) {
if (IPArray[i]>255) {
alert("Destination IP address is invalid!");
return false;
   }
}
return true;
}

// Domain is symbolic name.  Check if it's valid.
var atomPat=new RegExp("^" + atom + "$");
var domArr=domain.split(".");
var len=domArr.length;
for (i=0;i<len;i++) {
if (domArr[i].search(atomPat)==-1) {
alert("The domain name does not seem to be valid.");
return false;
   }
}

/* domain name seems valid, but now make sure that it ends in a
known top-level domain (like com, edu, gov) or a two-letter word,
representing country (uk, nl), and that there's a hostname preceding 
the domain or country. */
if (checkTLD && domArr[domArr.length-1].length!=2 && 
domArr[domArr.length-1].search(knownDomsPat)==-1) {
alert("The address must end in a well-known domain or two letter " + "country.");
return false;
}

// Make sure there's a host name preceding the domain.
if (len<2) {
alert("This address is missing a hostname!");
return false;
}

return true;
}


function isOKvalue(what,whatType){
  isitOKvalue=true;
  for (k=0;k<what.length;k++){
  if (whatType == 1) //only digits
    if ((what.charAt(k)<"0") || (what.charAt(k)>"9")) isitOKvalue=false;
  if (whatType == 2) // digits, chars and '_'
    if (!(
        ((what.charAt(k)>="0") && (what.charAt(k)<="9")) ||
        ((what.charAt(k)>="A") && (what.charAt(k)<="Z")) ||
        ((what.charAt(k)>="a") && (what.charAt(k)<="z")) ||
        (what.charAt(k)=="_")
       )) isitOKvalue=false;
  if (whatType == 3) // everything without '|' and ','
    if ((what.charAt(k)=="|") || (what.charAt(k)==",")) isitOKvalue=false;
  }
  return isitOKvalue;
}

function isURL(what){
  if((what.toLowerCase() == "http://") || (what.toLowerCase() == "https://")) what = "";
  if((what != "") && (what.substring(0,7).toLowerCase() != "http://") && (what.substring(0,8).toLowerCase() != "https://")) return false
  return true
}

function isAmount(what){
  for (i=0;i<what.length;i++)
    if (!( ((what.charAt(i) >= "0") && (what.charAt(i) <= "9")) || (what.charAt(i) == "$") || (what.charAt(i) == ",") || (what.charAt(i) == "."))) return false
  if(what.indexOf("$") != what.lastIndexOf("$")) return false
  if(what.indexOf("$") > 0) return false
  if(what.indexOf(".") != what.lastIndexOf(".")) return false
  if(what.indexOf(".") == -1){
    loopStart = what.length-1
    decValue = ""
  } else {
    loopStart = what.indexOf(".")-1
    decValue = what.substring(what.indexOf(".")+1,what.length)
  }  
  if(decValue.indexOf(",") != -1) return false
  commaCount = 0
  for (i=loopStart;i>=0;i--){
    if(commaCount != 3)
      if(what.charAt(i) == ",") return false; else commaCount++ 
    else {
      commaCount = 0
      if(what.charAt(i) != ",") commaCount++
    }  
  }
  return true
}

function parseAmount(what){
  if (what.value.charAt(0) == "$") {
    what.value = what.value.substring(1,what.value.length);
  }
  while(what.value.indexOf(",") > -1) {
    what.value = what.value.substring(0,what.value.indexOf(",")) +
       what.value.substring(what.value.indexOf(",")+1,what.value.length);
  }
  if(what.value == ".") {
    what.value = "";
  }
  if(what.value != "") {
    what.value = Math.round(parseFloat(what.value))
  }
}

function containPrivData(val) {
  return (val.indexOf("http://") != -1);
}

function isValidDescription(areaname,question,cols,maxsize){
  count=areaname.value.length;
  DescriptionLines = Math.round(count/cols)
  DescriptionMaxLines = Math.round(maxsize/cols)
  LinesToDelete = (DescriptionLines - DescriptionMaxLines);
  if (LinesToDelete > 0){
    alert("The length of your " + question + " text, which is now "+DescriptionLines+" lines, exceeds the limit of "+DescriptionMaxLines+" lines.\nPlease delete about "+LinesToDelete+" lines of the text.");
    return false;                      
  } else return true;
}

function isAnyChecked(checkboxgroup){
  if(checkboxgroup.length){
    for(i=0;i<checkboxgroup.length;i++)
      if(checkboxgroup[i].checked) return true;
  } else {
    if(checkboxgroup.checked) return true;
  }
  return false;
}