/**
 * Copyright (c) 2011
 *     OJC Technologies
 *     all rights reserved
 * @author: Jake Smith
 * 
 * Useful for debugging output.
 * 
 * REQUIRES JQuery to function properly
 *
 * Call 'printDebug(string)' to append
 * to a designated zone at the bottom of the
 * page in a
 * <div class='debug'>section</div>
 *
 * Call 'resetStdOut()' to clear the existing
 * content
 */

var elementType = 'div';
var classLabel = 'debug';
var debugTag = elementType + '.' + classLabel;
var styling = "border: 2px solid black; padding: 25px; margin: 25px; color: black;";

/*
 * clear contents of the output region (after checking its existence)
 */
function resetStdOut() {
	if ( $(debugTag).get(0)) {
		$(debugTag).empty();
	}
}

/*
 * Put the string out to the region (after checking the region's existence)
 */
function printDebug(information) {
	var stdOut = $(debugTag).get(0);
	if( !stdOut ) { // element does not yet exist
		stdOut = makeStdOut();
		$('body').append(stdOut);
	}
	var divElem = document.createElement('div');
	var textElem = document.createTextNode(information);
	divElem.appendChild(textElem);
	stdOut.appendChild(divElem);
}

/*
 * internal function, creates the output region
 */
function makeStdOut() {
	var elem = document.createElement(elementType);
	elem.setAttribute('class', classLabel);
	elem.setAttribute('style', styling);
	return elem;
}