// Check email.. for @ and .
	function validEmail(email,showalert){
		var validChars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890@._-";
		invalidChars =" /:,;";
		var str =  "";
		var errmsg = "";
		var bademail = false;
		if (email == ""){
			errmsg = "Email is missing";
			bademail = true;
		}
		else
		{
			for (i = 0;i<email.length; i++){
				testChar = email.charAt(i);
				if (validChars.indexOf(testChar,0) == -1){
					if(testChar == " "){
						testChar = "A space";
						if (i+1 == email.length)
							testChar = "A space at the end";
					}
					errmsg = testChar+" is an invalid email character";
					bademail = true;
					i=email.length+1;
				}
			} 
			if (errmsg == ""){
				atPos = email.indexOf("@", 0)
				firstperiodPos = email.indexOf(".", 0);
				afterperiodPos = email.indexOf(".",atPos);
				beforeperiodPos = email.lastIndexOf(".", atPos);
				lastperiodPos = email.lastIndexOf(".", email.length);
				// no @ sign
				if (atPos == -1){
					errmsg = "@ sign is missing in email";
					bademail = true;
				}
				// @ signs as first character
				else if (atPos == 0) {
					errmsg = "@ signs as first character in email are invalid";
					bademail = true;
				}
				// multiple @ signs
				else if (email.indexOf("@", atPos+1) > -1) {
					errmsg = "Multiple @ signs in email are invalid";
					bademail = true;
				}
				// no Period
				else if (firstperiodPos == -1){
					errmsg = "Period in email is missing";
					bademail = true;
				}
				// Period at beginning
				else if (firstperiodPos == 0){
					errmsg = "First character as period in email is invalid";
					bademail = true;
				}
				// period at end
				else if (lastperiodPos+1 == email.length){
					errmsg = "Last character as period in email is invalid";
					bademail = true;
				}
				// period after @ sign
				else if (afterperiodPos == atPos+1){
					errmsg = "Period following the @ sign in email is invalid";
					bademail = true;
				}
				// period before @ sign
				else if (beforeperiodPos == atPos-1){
					errmsg = "Period preceeding the @ sign in email is invalid";
					bademail = true;
				}
				// Period next to period
				else if ((email.indexOf(".", firstperiodPos+1) == firstperiodPos+1) || (email.indexOf(".", beforeperiodPos-1) == beforeperiodPos-1) || (email.indexOf(".", afterperiodPos+1) == afterperiodPos+1) || (email.indexOf(".", lastperiodPos-1) == lastperiodPos-1)){
					errmsg = "Period following period is invalid";
					bademail = true;
				}
				// more than 3 characters after last period
				else if (email.length - lastperiodPos > 4){
					errmsg = "Max characters after last period of email is 3\n     Including spaces";
					bademail = true;
				}
			}
			if (bademail == true){
				if (showalert == true){
					alert(errmsg);
					return false;
				}
			}
		}
		return errmsg
	}