function getStyleObject(objectId) {
    // cross-browser function to get an object's style object given its id
    if(document.getElementById && document.getElementById(objectId)) {
	// W3C DOM
	return document.getElementById(objectId).style;
    } else if (document.all && document.all(objectId)) {
	// MSIE 4 DOM
	return document.all(objectId).style;
    } else if (document.layers && document.layers[objectId]) {
	// NN 4 DOM.. note: this won't find nested layers
	return document.layers[objectId];
    } else {
	return false;
    }
} // getStyleObject

function changeObjectVisibility(objectId, newVisibility) {
    // get a reference to the cross-browser style object and make sure the object exists
    var styleObject = getStyleObject(objectId);
    if(styleObject) {
	styleObject.visibility = newVisibility;
	return true;
    } else {
	// we couldn't find the object, so we can't change its visibility
	return false;
    }
} // changeObjectVisibility

function moveObject(objectId, newXCoordinate, newYCoordinate) {
    // get a reference to the cross-browser style object and make sure the object exists
    var styleObject = getStyleObject(objectId);
    if(styleObject) {
	styleObject.left = newXCoordinate;
	styleObject.top = newYCoordinate;
	return true;
    } else {
	// we couldn't find the object, so we can't very well move it
	return false;
    }
} // moveObject


var xOffset = 30;
var yOffset = 10;

function showPopup (targetObjectId, eventObj) {
    if(eventObj) {
	// hide any currently-visible popups
	hideCurrentPopup();
	// stop event from bubbling up any farther
	eventObj.cancelBubble = true;
	// move popup div to current cursor position 
	// (add scrollTop to account for scrolling for IE)
	var newXCoordinate = (eventObj.pageX)?eventObj.pageX + xOffset:eventObj.x + xOffset + ((document.body.scrollLeft)?document.body.scrollLeft:0);
	var newYCoordinate = (eventObj.pageY)?eventObj.pageY + yOffset:eventObj.y + yOffset + ((document.body.scrollTop)?document.body.scrollTop:0);
	if (document.body.clientWidth-newXCoordinate-400 < 0)
		newXCoordinate -= 400;
	moveObject(targetObjectId, newXCoordinate, newYCoordinate);
	// and make it visible
	if( changeObjectVisibility(targetObjectId, 'visible') ) {
	    // if we successfully showed the popup
	    // store its Id on a globally-accessible object
	    window.currentlyVisiblePopup = targetObjectId;
	    return true;
	} else {
	    // we couldn't show the popup, boo hoo!
	    return false;
	}
    } else {
	// there was no event object, so we won't be able to position anything, so give up
	return false;
    }
} 

function hidePopup(objectID) {
    // note: we've stored the currently-visible popup on the global object window.currentlyVisiblePopup
	changeObjectVisibility(objectID, 'hidden');
} // hideCurrentPopup

function hideCurrentPopup() {
    // note: we've stored the currently-visible popup on the global object window.currentlyVisiblePopup
    if(window.currentlyVisiblePopup) {
	changeObjectVisibility(window.currentlyVisiblePopup, 'hidden');
	window.currentlyVisiblePopup = false;
    }
} // hideCurrentPopup

// setup an event handler to hide popups for generic clicks on the document
document.onclick = hideCurrentPopup;

function createFakeEventObj() {
    // create a fake event object for older browsers to avoid errors in function call
    // when we need to pass the event object to functions
    if (!window.event) {
	window.event = false;
    }
} // createFakeEventObj