var blank = "\n\r\t ";

     function is_blank(field) {
         for (var i = 0; i < field.length; i++) {
             if (blank.indexOf(field.charAt(i)) == -1)
                 return false;
         }
         return true;
     }

     function validate(the_form) {
         var message = "";
         var empty = "";

         for(var i = 0; i < the_form.length; i++) {
             var field = the_form.elements[i];

             // IMPORTANT: the type property is not available in Netscape 2.0
             // or MSIE 3.0
             if (((field.type == "text")
                         || (field.type == "textarea"))
                     && field.mandatory) {
                 if ((field.value == null)
                         || (field.value == "")
                         || is_blank(field.value)) {
                     empty += "\n          " + field.name;
                 }
             }
         }
         if (!empty)
         {
         	return true;
         }

         if (empty) {
             message += "The following required field(s) are empty:"
                     + empty + "\n";
         }
         alert(message);
         return false;
     }