//find next image
function nextImage(o) {
    do o = o.nextSibling;
    while(o && o.tagName != 'IMG');
    return o;
}

//find first image inside an element
function firstChildImage(o) {
    
    o = o.firstChild;
        
    while(o && o.tagName != 'IMG') {
        o = o.nextSibling;
    }
    
    return o;
}

//set the opacity of an element to a specified value
function setOpacity(obj, o) {

    obj.style.opacity = (o / 100);
    obj.style.MozOpacity = (o / 100);
    obj.style.KhtmlOpacity = (o / 100);
    obj.style.filter = 'alpha(opacity=' + o + ')';
}

//make image invisible and set next one as current image
function getNextImage(image) {
    if (next = nextImage(image)) {
	    image.style.display = 'none';
	    image.style.zIndex = 0;

	    next.style.display = 'block';
	    next.style.zIndex = 100;
    } else {
	    image.style.display = 'none';
	    image.style.zIndex = 0;
    
	    //if there is not a next image, get the first image again
	    next = firstChildImage(image.parentNode);
    }

    return next;
}

//set default values for parameters and starting image
function blendImages(id, speed, pause, caption) {
    if(speed == null) {
        speed = 30;
    }
    
    if(pause == null) {
        pause = 1500;
    }

    var blend = document.getElementById(id);

    var image = firstChildImage(blend);
    
    //added to set a starting image
    image.parentNode.style.backgroundImage = "url("+image.src+")";

    startBlending(image, speed, pause, caption);
}

//make image a block-element and set the caption
function startBlending(image, speed, pause, caption) {

    image.style.display = 'block';

    if(caption != null) {
	    document.getElementById(caption).innerHTML = image.alt;
    }

    continueFadeImage(image, 0, speed, pause, caption);
}

function pausecomp(millis) {
    var date = new Date();
    var curDate = null;

    do { curDate = new Date(); }
    while(curDate-date < millis);
} 

//set an increased opacity and check if the image is done blending
function continueFadeImage(image, opacity, speed, pause, caption) {

    opacity = opacity + 3;

    if (opacity < 103) {

	    setTimeout(function() {fadeImage(image, opacity, speed, pause, caption)}, speed);

    } else {
	    //if the image is done, set it to the background and make it transparent
	    image.parentNode.style.backgroundImage = "url("+image.src+")";

	    // ASC: pause 1sec here to prevent MSIE image flash ...
	    var paws=pause-1000;
	    if (paws < 0 ) {
		    paws = 0;
	    }
	    pausecomp(1000);

	    setOpacity(image,0);
	    //get the next image and start blending it again
	    image = getNextImage(image);
	    setTimeout(function() {startBlending(image, speed, pause, caption)}, paws);
    }
}

//set the opacity to a new value and continue the fading
function fadeImage(image, opacity, speed, pause, caption) {
    setOpacity(image,opacity);
    continueFadeImage(image, opacity, speed, pause, caption);
}