function serialize(_obj)

{

   // Let Gecko browsers do this the easy way

   //if (typeof _obj.toSource !== 'undefined' && typeof _obj.callee === 'undefined')

   //{

   //   return _obj.toSource();

   //}



   // Other browsers must do it the hard way

   switch (typeof _obj)

   {

      // numbers, booleans, and functions are trivial:

      // just return the object itself since its default .toString()

      // gives us exactly what we want

      case 'number':

      case 'boolean':

      case 'function':

         return _obj;

         break;



      // for JSON format, strings need to be wrapped in double-quotes

      case 'string':

         return '\'' + _obj + '\'';

         break;



      case 'object':

         var str;

         if (_obj.constructor === Array || typeof _obj.callee !== 'undefined')

         {

            str = '[';

            var i, len = _obj.length;

            for (i = 0; i < len-1; i++) { str += serialize(_obj[i]) + ','; }

            str += serialize(_obj[i]) + ']';

         }

         else

         {

            str = '{';

            var key;

            for (key in _obj) { str += key + ':' + serialize(_obj[key]) + ','; }

            str = str.replace(/,$/, '') + '}';

         }

         return str;

         break;



      default:

         return 'UNKNOWN';

         break;

   }

}