jQuery.extend({

  // generate random number
  random: function(X) {
    return Math.floor(X * (Math.random() % 1));
  },

  // generate random number between 2 numbers
  randomBetween: function(MinV, MaxV) {
    return MinV + jQuery.random(MaxV - MinV + 1);
  },


  // this function puts an error message into a an error into a container if the ajax call fails
  errorRetrievingAjaxData: function(container) {
    $(container).html('<div class="ajaxError">Error: Unable to retrieve information from the database.  Please try again.</div>');
  },

  // this function is callen on AjaxSucceeded and binds data to a template 
  bindDataToTemplate: function(data, pContainer, sTemplateURL) {
    var iTotalRecords = data.Records.length;

    if (iTotalRecords == 0) {
      $(pContainer).html('');
    } else {
      $(pContainer).setTemplateURL(sTemplateURL, null, { filter_data: false });
      $(pContainer).processTemplate(data);
    };
  }

});