// This snippet came from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6941533/get-protocol-domain-and-port-from-url
// If was converted into a class to make sure that there is no conflicts with other functions.

var URLPathInfo = {
	
	

/**
 *  Break apart any path into parts
 *  'http://example.com:12345/blog/foo/bar?startIndex=1&pageSize=10' ->
 *    {
 *      "host": "example.com",
 *      "port": "12345",
 *      "search": {
 *        "startIndex": "1",
 *        "pageSize": "10"
 *      },
 *      "path": "/blog/foo/bar",
 *      "protocol": "http:"
 *    }
 */
	getPathInfo: function (path) {
	    //  create a link in the DOM and set its href
	    var link = document.createElement('a');
	    link.setAttribute('href', path);

	    //  return an easy-to-use object that breaks apart the path
	    return {
	        host:     link.hostname,  //  'example.com'
	        port:     link.port,      //  12345
	        search:   URLPathInfo.processSearchParams(link.search),  //  {startIndex: 1, pageSize: 10}
	        path:     link.pathname,  //  '/blog/foo/bar'
	        protocol: link.protocol   //  'http:'
	    }
	},


/**
 *  Convert search param string into an object or array
 *  '?startIndex=1&pageSize=10' -> {startIndex: 1, pageSize: 10}
 */
	processSearchParams: function (search, preserveDuplicates) {
		// return blank if nothing is in the search 
		if(!search) return '';
		
	    //  option to preserve duplicate keys (e.g. 'sort=name&sort=age')
	    preserveDuplicates = preserveDuplicates || false;  //  disabled by default

	    var outputNoDupes = {};
	    var outputWithDupes = [];  //  optional output array to preserve duplicate keys

	    //  sanity check
	    if(!search) throw new Error('processSearchParams: expecting "search" input parameter');

	    //  remove ? separator (?foo=1&bar=2 -> 'foo=1&bar=2')
	    search = search.split('?')[1];

	    //  split apart keys into an array ('foo=1&bar=2' -> ['foo=1', 'bar=2'])
	    search = search.split('&');

	    //  separate keys from values (['foo=1', 'bar=2'] -> [{foo:1}, {bar:2}])
	    //  also construct simplified outputObj
	    outputWithDupes = search.map(function(keyval){
	        var out = {};
	        keyval = keyval.split('=');
	        out[keyval[0]] = keyval[1];
	        outputNoDupes[keyval[0]] = keyval[1]; //  might as well do the no-dupe work too while we're in the loop
	        return out;
	    });

	    return (preserveDuplicates) ? outputWithDupes : outputNoDupes;
	}
};