function trim(inputString) 
{
    // Removes leading and trailing spaces from the passed string. Also removes
	// consecutive spaces and replaces it with one space. If something besides
	// a string is passed in (null, custom object, etc.) then return the input.
	  
	if (typeof inputString != "string") 
	{ 
		return inputString; 
	}
	var retValue = inputString;
	
	// Check for spaces at the beginning of the string
	var ch = retValue.substring(0, 1);
	while (ch == " ") {
		retValue = retValue.substring(1, retValue.length);
	    ch = retValue.substring(0, 1);
	}
	// Check for spaces at the end of the string
	ch = retValue.substring(retValue.length-1, retValue.length);
    while (ch == " ") 
	{ 
		retValue = retValue.substring(0, retValue.length-1);
	    ch = retValue.substring(retValue.length-1, retValue.length);
	}
	
	// Note that there are two spaces in the string - look for multiple spaces within the string
	while (retValue.indexOf("  ") != -1) { 
	    retValue = retValue.substring(0, retValue.indexOf("  ")) + 
		           retValue.substring(retValue.indexOf("  ")+1, retValue.length); 
				   // Again, there are two spaces in each of the strings
	}
    return retValue; // Return the trimmed string back to the user
}