//var secToCountdown = 5*60;      // five minutes in seconds.

 var quizTimer;  // Javascript DOM object for <div id='message'> in HTML below
 var startDate;
 var running = false;
 var doneText = "done";         // what to display when timer hits 00:00
 var resetText = "--:--";       // what to display when timer is reset 
 var timerText = "";       // what to display when timer is reset 

 function initTimer(quizDivId,tmpTimerText){
	timerText = tmpTimerText;
	quizTimer = document.getElementById(quizDivId);
	resetTimer();
 }

 function resetTimer(){
   running = false;
   quizTimer.innerHTML = resetText;
 }

 function stopTimer(){
   running = false;
 }

 function startTimer(tmpStartDate){
	//alert('Start timer');
	running   = true;
	//startDate = new Date();
	if(!tmpStartDate)
		startDate = new Date();
	else
		startDate = new Date(tmpStartDate);
	//startDate = new Date(tmpStartDate);
	refreshTimer();
 }
function refreshTimer(){  // calls itself each second while timer is running
	//alert('refreshTimer');
	if (running){
		//alert('refreshTimer in');
		quizTimer.innerHTML = timeRemainingAsString();
		setTimeout("refreshTimer()", 999);  //  time delay is in milli-sec;
	}                                       //  999ms wait + 1ms for code
}
function timeRemainingAsString(){
	var now = new Date();
	//alert(startDate);
	var secElapsed = (now-startDate)/1000;//0.5+
   //var secRemaining = 0.5+secToCountdown-(now-startDate)/1000;
   //if (secRemaining <= 0){
   //  stopTimer();
   //  return doneText;
   //}
	var sec = Math.floor(secElapsed % 60);
	if (sec<10) {sec="0"+sec;}
	var min = Math.floor(secElapsed/60);
	return timerText + " <b>" + min + ":" + sec +"</b>";
 }