//This function extracts a query string from the uri and returns a json object

function querystring () {
    var uri = location.href;

    if (uri.indexOf('?') == -1) {
        //alert('no query');
        return(false);
    }

    var uri_split = uri.split('?');

    var query_elements = uri_split[1].split('&');

    var out_object ={};
    for (i=0; i<=query_elements.length - 1; i++) {
        var split_query_element = query_elements[i].split('=');
        out_object[split_query_element[0]] = split_query_element[1];
    }

    //console.log(out_object);
    //alert(out_object['element_id']);

    return(out_object);

}