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;
	var ch = retValue.substring(0, 1);
	while (ch == " ") 
	{ // Check for spaces at the beginning of the string
	  	retValue = retValue.substring(1, retValue.length);
	  	ch = retValue.substring(0, 1);
	}
	ch = retValue.substring(retValue.length-1, retValue.length);
	while (ch == " ") 
	{ // Check for spaces at the end of the string
	  	retValue = retValue.substring(0, retValue.length-1);
	  	ch = retValue.substring(retValue.length-1, retValue.length);
	}
	while (retValue.indexOf("  ") != -1) 
	{ // Note that there are two spaces in the string - look for multiple spaces within the string
	  	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
}