// this function is needed to work around 
  // a bug in IE related to element attributes
function hasClass(obj) {
   var result = false;
   if (obj.getAttributeNode("class") != null) {
       result = obj.getAttributeNode("class").value;
   }
   return result;
}   
/* get elements by class name.... */
function myGetElementsByClass(searchClass,node,tag) {
  var classElements = new Array();
  if (node == null)
    node = document;
  if (tag == null)
    tag = '*';
  var els = node.getElementsByTagName(tag);
  var elsLen = els.length;
  var pattern = new RegExp("(^|\\s)"+searchClass+"(\\s|$)");
  for (i = 0, j = 0; i < elsLen; i++) {
    if (pattern.test(els[i].className) ) {
      classElements[j] = els[i];
      j++;
    }
  }
  return classElements;
}

/* make tables stripe, use body onload to specify classname for this */
function stripe(id) {
    // the flag we'll use to keep track of 
    // whether the current row is odd or even
    var even = false;
  
    // if arguments are provided to specify the colours
    // of the even & odd rows, then use the them;
    // otherwise use the following defaults:
    var evenColor = arguments[1] ? arguments[1] : "#fff";
    var oddColor = arguments[2] ? arguments[2] : "#eee";
  
    // find all of the tables we want to stripe
    var tables = myGetElementsByClass(id,null,'table');
   
    // and iterate through them...
    for (var g = 0; g < tables.length; g++) {

    // by definition, tables can have more than one tbody
    // element, so we'll have to get the list of child
    // &lt;tbody&gt;s 
    var tbodies = tables[g].getElementsByTagName("tbody");

    // and iterate through them...
    for (var h = 0; h < tbodies.length; h++) {
    
     // find all the &lt;tr&gt; elements... 
      var trs = tbodies[h].getElementsByTagName("tr");
      
      // ... and iterate through them
      for (var i = 0; i < trs.length; i++) {

        // avoid rows that have a class attribute
        // or backgroundColor style
        if (! hasClass(trs[i]) &&
            ! trs[i].style.backgroundColor) {
 		  
          // get all the cells in this row...
          var tds = trs[i].getElementsByTagName("td");
        
          // and iterate through them...
          for (var j = 0; j < tds.length; j++) {
        
            var mytd = tds[j];

            // avoid cells that have a class attribute
            // or backgroundColor style
          if (! hasClass(mytd) &&
                ! mytd.style.backgroundColor) {
        
              mytd.style.backgroundColor =
                even ? evenColor : oddColor;
            }
          }
        }
        // flip from odd to even, or vice-versa
        even =  ! even;
      }
    }
   }
  }