function validateState (strValue ) {
/***
DESCRIPTION: Validates that a string contains a 
  valid state abbreviation. 
****/

var objRegExp = /^(AK|AL|AR|AZ|CA|CO|CT|DC|DE|FL|GA|HI|IA|ID|IL|IN|KS|KY|LA|MA|MD|ME|MI|MN|MO|MS|MT|NB|NC|ND|NH|NJ|NM|NV|NY|OH|OK|OR|PA|RI|SC|SD|TN|TX|UT|VA|VT|WA|WI|WV|WY)$/i; 

  return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}

function validateEmail( strValue) {
/***
DESCRIPTION: Validates that a string contains a 
  valid email pattern. 
   
REMARKS: Accounts for email with country appended
  does not validate that email contains valid URL
  type (.com, .gov, etc.) and optionally,
  a valid country suffix.  Since email has many
  forms this expression only tests for near valid
  address.  Some additional validation may be
  required.
****/
var objRegExp  = /^[a-z0-9]([a-z0-9_\-\.]*)@([a-z0-9_\-\.]*)(\.[a-z]{2,3}(\.[a-z]{2}){0,2})$/i;
  //check for valid email
  return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}


function  validateNumeric( strValue ) {
/*********************************
DESCRIPTION: Validates that a string contains only valid numbers.
*********************************/
  var objRegExp  =  /(^-?\d\d*\.\d*$)|(^-?\d\d*$)|(^-?\.\d\d*$)/; 
 
  //check for numeric characters 
  return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}

function validateInteger( strValue ) {
/***
DESCRIPTION: Validates that a string contains only 
    valid integer number.
*********************************/
  var objRegExp  = /(^-?\d\d*$)/;
 
  //check for integer characters
  return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}

function validateNotEmpty( strValue ) {
/***
DESCRIPTION: Validates that a string is not all
  blank (whitespace) characters.
****/
   var strTemp = strValue;
   strTemp = trimAll(strTemp);
   if(strTemp.length > 0){
     return true;
   }  
   return false;
}

function validateUSZip( strValue ) {
/***
DESCRIPTION: Validates that a string a United
  States zip code in 5 digit format or zip+4
  format. 99999 or 99999-9999
****/
var objRegExp  = /(^\d{5}$)|(^\d{5}-\d{4}$)/;
 
  //check for valid US Zipcode
  return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}


function validateValue( strValue, strMatchPattern ) {
/***
DESCRIPTION: Validates that a string a matches
  a valid regular expression value.
****/
var objRegExp = new RegExp( strMatchPattern);
 
 //check if string matches pattern
 return objRegExp.test(strValue);
}


function rightTrim( strValue ) {
/***
DESCRIPTION: Trims trailing whitespace chars.
****/
var objRegExp = /^([\w\W]*)(\b\s*)$/;
 
      if(objRegExp.test(strValue)) {
       //remove trailing a whitespace characters
       strValue = strValue.replace(objRegExp, '$1');
    }
  return strValue;
}

function leftTrim( strValue ) {
/***
DESCRIPTION: Trims leading whitespace chars.
****/
var objRegExp = /^(\s*)(\b[\w\W]*)$/;
 
      if(objRegExp.test(strValue)) {
       //remove leading a whitespace characters
       strValue = strValue.replace(objRegExp, '$2');
    }
  return strValue;
}

function trimAll( strValue ) {
/***
DESCRIPTION: Removes leading and trailing spaces.
****/ 
 var objRegExp = /^(\s*)$/;

    //check for all spaces
    if(objRegExp.test(strValue)) {
       strValue = strValue.replace(objRegExp, '');
       if( strValue.length == 0)
          return strValue;
    }
    
   //check for leading & trailing spaces
   objRegExp = /^(\s*)([\W\w]*)(\b\s*$)/;
   if(objRegExp.test(strValue)) {
       //remove leading and trailing whitespace characters
       strValue = strValue.replace(objRegExp, '$2');
    }
  return strValue;
}


function removeCharacters( strValue, strMatchPattern ) {
//USAGE:  strNoSpaces = removeCharacters( ' sfdf  dfd', '\s*')

 var objRegExp =  new RegExp( strMatchPattern, 'gi' );
 
 //replace passed pattern matches with blanks
  return strValue.replace(objRegExp,'');
}