var arrMonthsInc = new Array("Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun", "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", "Oct", "Nov", "Dec");

    /*
      input: string containing date in format xx/yy/zzzz
      output: returns the same string but tranforms according to 
      xx/yy/zzzz --> yy/xx/zzzz as the date function expects mm/dd, whereas it
      is natural to enter dd/mm
    */
    function checkDate(strDate) {
      var intPos1 = strDate.indexOf("/");
      if(intPos1 != -1 ) {
        var intPos2 = strDate.indexOf("/", intPos1 + 1);
        if(intPos2 != -1 ) {
          return(strDate.substring(intPos1 + 1, intPos2) + '/' + strDate.substring(0, intPos1) + '/' + strDate.substring(intPos2 + 1));
        } else {
          return( strDate );
        }
      } else {
        return( strDate );
      }
    }

    /*
      input: date object
      output: returns a string format of the date in iso8601 format, ie. yyyy-mm-dd
    */
    function dateToISO(datInput) {
      var sISODate;
      
      sISODate = datInput.getFullYear();
      sISODate += '-';
      // month returns 0 - 11
      if( datInput.getMonth() < 9 )
        sISODate += '0';
      sISODate += (datInput.getMonth() + 1).toString();
      sISODate += '-';
      if( datInput.getDate() < 10 )
        sISODate += '0';
      sISODate += datInput.getDate();
      
      return(sISODate);    
    }

  function convertISOtoDate( sISODate ) {
    // alert(sISODate);
    // alert(sISODate.substring(0, 4) + ' ' + (sISODate.substring(5, 7) - 1) + ' ' + sISODate.substring(8, 10));
    var datInput = new Date(sISODate.substring(0, 4), sISODate.substring(5, 7) - 1, sISODate.substring(8, 10));
    return datInput;
  }
  
    /*
      input: date object
      output: returns a string format of the date ie. dd mmm yyyy
    */
    function dateToString(datInput) {
      var sOutput = '';
      
      sOutput += datInput.getDate() + ' ';
      sOutput += arrMonthsInc[datInput.getMonth()] + ' ';
      sOutput += datInput.getFullYear();
      
      return(sOutput);    
    }