function isYear (s) {
	if (isEmpty(s)) 
		if (isYear.arguments.length == 1) return defaultEmptyOK;
	else return (isYear.arguments[1] == true);
	if (!isNonnegativeInteger(s)) return false;
	return ((s.length == 2) || (s.length == 4));
}

function isIntegerInRange (s, a, b)
{   if (isEmpty(s)) 
       if (isIntegerInRange.arguments.length == 1) return defaultEmptyOK;
       else return (isIntegerInRange.arguments[1] == true);

    // Catch non-integer strings to avoid creating a NaN below,
    // which isn't available on javascript 1.0 for Windows.
    if (!isInteger(s, false)) return false;

    // Now, explicitly change the type to integer via parseInt
    // so that the comparison code below will work both on 
    // javascript 1.2 (which typechecks in equality comparisons)
    // and javascript 1.1 and before (which doesn't).
    var num = parseInt (s);
    return ((num >= a) && (num <= b));
}



// isMonth (STRING s [, BOOLEAN emptyOK])
// 
// isMonth returns true if string s is a valid 
// month number between 1 and 12.
//
// For explanation of optional argument emptyOK,
// see comments of function isInteger.

function isMonth (s)
{   if (isEmpty(s)) 
       if (isMonth.arguments.length == 1) return defaultEmptyOK;
       else return (isMonth.arguments[1] == true);
    return isIntegerInRange (s, 1, 12);
}



// isDay (STRING s [, BOOLEAN emptyOK])
// 
// isDay returns true if string s is a valid 
// day number between 1 and 31.
// 
// For explanation of optional argument emptyOK,
// see comments of function isInteger.

function isDay (s)
{   if (isEmpty(s)) 
       if (isDay.arguments.length == 1) return defaultEmptyOK;
       else return (isDay.arguments[1] == true);   
    return isIntegerInRange (s, 1, 31);
}



// daysInFebruary (INTEGER year)
// 
// Given integer argument year,
// returns number of days in February of that year.

function daysInFebruary (year)
{   // February has 29 days in any year evenly divisible by four,
    // EXCEPT for centurial years which are not also divisible by 400.
    return (  ((year % 4 == 0) && ( (!(year % 100 == 0)) || (year % 400 == 0) ) ) ? 29 : 28 );
}



// isDate (STRING year, STRING month, STRING day)
//
// isDate returns true if string arguments year, month, and day 
// form a valid date.
// 

function isDate2 (year, month, day)
{   // catch invalid years (not 2- or 4-digit) and invalid months and days.
    if (! (isYear(year, false) && isMonth(month, false) && isDay(day, false))) return false;

    // Explicitly change type to integer to make code work in both
    // javascript 1.1 and javascript 1.2.
    var intYear = parseInt(year);
    var intMonth = parseInt(month);
    var intDay = parseInt(day);

    // catch invalid days, except for February
    if (intDay > daysInMonth[intMonth]) return false; 

    if ((intMonth == 2) && (intDay > daysInFebruary(intYear))) return false;

    return true;
}

function isDate(dateStr) {
	var datePat = /^(\d{1,2})(\/|-)(\d{1,2})(\/|-)(\d{4})$/;
	var matchArray = dateStr.match(datePat); // is the format ok?

	if (matchArray == null) {
		return "Please enter date as either mm/dd/yyyy or mm-dd-yyyy."
	}

	month = matchArray[1]; // p@rse date into variables
	day = matchArray[3];
	year = matchArray[5];

	if (month < 1 || month > 12) { // check month range
		return "Month must be between 1 and 12"
	}

	if (day < 1 || day > 31) {
		return "Day must be between 1 and 31"
	}

	if ((month==4 || month==6 || month==9 || month==11) && day==31) {
		return "Month doesn`t have 31 days"
	}

	if (month == 2) { // check for february 29th
		var isleap = (year % 4 == 0 && (year % 100 != 0 || year % 400 == 0));
		if (day > 29 || (day==29 && !isleap)) {
			return "February " + year + " doesn`t have " + day + " days"
		}
	}
	return ""
}