String.prototype.trim = function()
  {
  // Use a regular expression to replace leading and trailing 
  // spaces with the empty string
  return this.replace(/(^\s*)|(\s*$)/g, "");
  }

function ChkVal(fld_name,fld_descr)
  {
  document.getElementById(fld_name).value = document.getElementById(fld_name).value.trim();
  if (document.getElementById(fld_name).value == '')
    {
    alert (fld_descr + " is compulsory");
    document.getElementById(fld_name).focus();
    return false;
    }
  }

function ChkNum(fld_name,fld_descr)
  {
  document.getElementById(fld_name).value = document.getElementById(fld_name).value.trim();
  if (isNaN(document.getElementById(fld_name).value))
    {
    alert (fld_descr + " should be numeric");
    document.getElementById(fld_name).select();
    return false;
    }
  }