/* --------------------------------
** FUNCTION:
**   fnGetProtocolFromURLString 
** DESCRIPTION:
**   This function returns the url protocol string
**   from the beginning of a url, such as 'http://' etc
**   If no valid protocol string is present then the
**   function returns -1. The url string is left
**   unchanged.
** DEPENDENCIES:
**   fnStripLeadingSpaceFromString
** SEE ALSO:
** DATE:
** 
   -------------------------------- */

function fnGetProtocolFromURLString(sURLString) 
{                                      

  //-- Verify parameters
  if (sURLString == null)
  {
    //-->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->
    //-- write out some nasty error message
    //-- somewhere, mortally insulting the programmer
    //-- for such a ridiculous error
    return -1;
  }

  var sReturn   = new String("");
  var sTest     = sURLString;

  sTest = sTest.toLowerCase();
  sTest = fnStripLeadingSpaceFromString(sTest);

  /* -->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->
  //-- I have forgotten the syntax for this
  var rxProtocol = new RegExp("^([a-z]{2,6}:[/]{0,2})", "gi");  
  if (sTest.replace(rxProtocol, "") == ???)
  {
    return sReturn;
  }
  -->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->-->
  */


  if (sTest.substring(0,7) == "http://")
    { return "http://"; }
  
  if (sTest.substring(0, 6) == "http:/")
    { return "http:/"; }

  if (sTest.substring(0,8) == "https://")
    { return "https://"; }

  if (sTest.substring(0, 7) == "https:/")
    { return "https:/"; }

  if (sTest.substring(0, 7) == "nttp://")
    { return "nttp://"; }

  if (sTest.substring(0, 6) == "ftp://")
    { return "ftp://"; }

  if (sTest.substring(0, 6) == "dict://")
    { return "dict://"; }

  return -1;
} //-- fnGetProtocolFromURLString()