function showPopup(targetObjectID, eventObj) 
{
	if(eventObj) 
	{
	// hide any currently-visible popups
	hideCurrentPopup();
	// stop event from bubbling up any farther
	eventObj.cancelBubble = true;
	// 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;
			moveObject(targetObjectID,130,230);
			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;
    }
} // showPopup

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



// ***********************
// hacks and workarounds *
// ***********************

// initialize hacks whenever the page loads
window.onload = initializeHacks;

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

function initializeHacks() {
    // this ugly little hack resizes a blank div to make sure you can click
    // anywhere in the window for Mac MSIE 5
    if ((navigator.appVersion.indexOf('MSIE 5') != -1) 
	&& (navigator.platform.indexOf('Mac') != -1)
	&& getStyleObject('blankDiv')) {
	window.onresize = explorerMacResizeFix;
    }
    resizeBlankDiv();
    // this next function creates a placeholder object for older browsers
    createFakeEventObj();
}

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

function resizeBlankDiv() {
    // resize blank placeholder div so IE 5 on mac will get all clicks in window
    if ((navigator.appVersion.indexOf('MSIE 5') != -1) 
	&& (navigator.platform.indexOf('Mac') != -1)
	&& getStyleObject('blankDiv')) {
	getStyleObject('blankDiv').width = document.body.clientWidth - 20;
	getStyleObject('blankDiv').height = document.body.clientHeight - 20;
    }
}

function explorerMacResizeFix () {
    location.reload(false);
}


// ************************
// layer utility routines *
// ************************

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