// Function retrieved from: http://cass- hacks.com/articles/code/js_url_encode_decode/   
function URLEncode (clearString) {   
  var output = '';   
  var x = 0;   
  clearString = clearString.toString();   
  var regex = /(^[a-zA-Z0-9_.]*)/;   
  while (x < clearString.length) {   
    var match = regex.exec(clearString.substr(x));   
    if (match != null && match.length > 1 && match[1] != '') {   
        output += match[1];   
      x += match[1].length;   
    } else {   
      if (clearString[x] == ' ')   
        output += '+';   
      else {   
        var charCode = clearString.charCodeAt(x);   
        var hexVal = charCode.toString(16);   
        output += '%' + ( hexVal.length < 2 ? '0' : '' ) + hexVal.toUpperCase();   
      }   
      x++;   
    }   
  }   
  return output;   
}