var AS4Utility = Class.create();
		
	/**
	 * Generates a unique identifier for this panel object (note this does not maintain reference to any element)
	 * @return {String}
	 */
	AS4Utility.generateUniqueId= function()
	{
		var chars = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ';
		return chars.substr(Math.random() * (chars.length - 1), 1 ) + [4, 2, 2, 2, 6].map(function(length)
		{
			return $R(0, length, true).map(function()
			{
				return (Math.ceil(Math.random() * 256)).toString(16);
			}).join('');
		}).join('');
	}
	
	AS4Utility.setCookie = function(c_name,value,expiredays)
	{
		var exdate=new Date();
		exdate.setDate(exdate.getDate()+expiredays);
		document.cookie=c_name+ "=" +escape(value)+
		((expiredays==null) ? "" : ";expires="+exdate.toGMTString());
	}

	AS4Utility.getCookie = function(c_name)
	{
		if (document.cookie.length>0)
  		{
  			c_start=document.cookie.indexOf(c_name + "=");
  			if (c_start!=-1)
    		{ 
    			c_start=c_start + c_name.length+1; 
    			c_end=document.cookie.indexOf(";",c_start);
    			if (c_end==-1){ 
    				c_end=document.cookie.length;
    			}

    			return unescape(document.cookie.substring(c_start,c_end));;
    		} 
  		}
		return null;
	}
	
	AS4Utility.getUrlVars = function()
	{
			
		var vars = [], hash;
		var hashes = window.location.href.slice(window.location.href.indexOf('?') + 1).split('&');
		for(var i = 0; i < hashes.length; i++)
		{
			hash = hashes[i].split('=');
			vars.push(hash[0]);
			vars[hash[0]] = hash[1];
		}
		 
		return vars;
	}