/* The trimBlanks function replaces the spaces in a string with the provided character. */
function trimBlanks ( theString, repChar )  {
	trimString = "";
        lastChar = " ";
	if ((typeof(repChar)!="object") ? true : false) {
		repChar = "";
	}
	for ( i = 0; i < theString.length; i++)  {
		theChar=theString.charAt(i);
		if ( theChar == " " && lastChar == " ") { 
			trimString += repChar ;
		} else { 
			trimString+=theChar;
		}
                lastChar = theChar;
	}
        if (trimString.charAt(trimString.length - 1) == " ") {
	   trimString = trimString.substring(0,trimString.length - 1);
	}
	return (trimString);
}