function trim(inputString) {
       // Removes leading and trailing spaces from the passed string. Also removes
       // consecutive spaces and replaces it with one space. If something besides
       // a string is passed in (null, custom object, etc.) then return the input.
       if (typeof inputString != "string") { return inputString; }
       var retValue = inputString;
       var ch = retValue.substring(0, 1);
       while (ch == " ") { // Check for spaces at the beginning of the string
          retValue = retValue.substring(1, retValue.length);
          ch = retValue.substring(0, 1);
       }
       ch = retValue.substring(retValue.length-1, retValue.length);
       while (ch == " ") { // Check for spaces at the end of the string
          retValue = retValue.substring(0, retValue.length-1);
          ch = retValue.substring(retValue.length-1, retValue.length);
       }
       while (retValue.indexOf("  ") != -1) { // Note that there are two spaces in the string - look for multiple spaces within the string
          retValue = retValue.substring(0, retValue.indexOf("  ")) + retValue.substring(retValue.indexOf("  ")+1, retValue.length); // Again, there are two spaces in each of the strings
       }
       return retValue; // Return the trimmed string back to the user
    } // Ends the "trim" function