// this function is needed to work around 
  // a bug in IE related to element attributes
  function hasClass(obj) {
     var result = false;
     if (obj.getAttributeNode("class") != null) {
         result = obj.getAttributeNode("class").value;
     }
     return result;
  }   

 function stripe(id) {

    // the flag we'll use to keep track of 
    // whether the current row is odd or even
    var even = false;
  
    // if arguments are provided to specify the colours
    // of the even & odd rows, then use the them;
    // otherwise use the following defaults:
    var evenColor = arguments[1] ? arguments[1] : "#fff";
    var oddColor = arguments[2] ? arguments[2] : "#eee";
  
	// setting up an array to contain any tables we find
	var tables = new Array();

	// obtain a reference to the element.  if no reference exists, abort.
	var refElement = document.getElementById(id);
	if (! refElement) { return; }
	else {
		
		// if the element is a table, put it in our array
		if ( refElement.tagName == "TABLE" ) { tables[0] = refElement; }

		// if the element is not a table, put any child tables it contains
		// into our array
		else { tables = refElement.getElementsByTagName("table"); }
	
	// if the element is not a table and contains no tables, abort
	if (! tables) { return; }

    // now we iterate through any tables we found
	for (var g = 0; g < tables.length; g++) {
		
		// by definition, tables can have more than one tbody
    	// element, so we'll have to get the list of child
    	// tbody elements
		var tbodies = tables[g].getElementsByTagName("tbody");
	
		// and iterate through them...
		for (var h = 0; h < tbodies.length; h++) {
		
		 // find all the tr elements... 
		  var trs = tbodies[h].getElementsByTagName("tr");
		  
		  // ...and iterate through them
		  for (var i = 0; i < trs.length; i++) {
	
			// avoid rows that have a class attribute
			// or backgroundColor style
			if (! hasClass(trs[i]) &&
				! trs[i].style.backgroundColor) {
			  
			  // get all the cells in this row...
			  var tds = trs[i].getElementsByTagName("td");

  			  // and iterate through them...
			  for (var j = 0; j < tds.length; j++) {
			
				var mytd = tds[j];
	
				// avoid cells that have a class attribute
				// or backgroundColor style
				if (! hasClass(mytd) && ! mytd.style.backgroundColor) {
				  mytd.style.backgroundColor =
				  (i % 2 != 0) ? evenColor : oddColor;
				}
			  }
			}
		  }
		}
	 }
  }
}