function getElementsByClass(className) {
	var all = document.all ? document.all : document.getElementsByTagName('*');
	var elements = new Array();
	for (var e = 0; e < all.length; e++) {
		if (all[e].className == className) elements[elements.length] = all[e];
	}
	return elements;
}

// this function is need to work around 
  // a bug in IE related to element attributes
  function hasClass(obj) {
     var result = false;
     if (obj.getAttributeNode("class") != null) {
         result = obj.getAttributeNode("class").value;
     }
     return result;
  }   

 function stripe(id) {

    // if arguments are provided to specify the colours
    // of the even & odd rows, then use the them;
    // otherwise use the following defaults:
    var evenColor = arguments[1] ? arguments[1] : "#eee";
    var oddColor = arguments[2] ? arguments[2] : "";
	var tablearray = new Array();
  
    // obtain a reference to the desired table
    // if no such table exists, abort
    var table = document.getElementById('datatable');
	
    if (!table) { 
		tablearray = getElementsByClass('sortable');
	}
	else {
		tablearray.push(table);
		table = null;
	}
    
	for (var e = 0; e < tablearray.length; e++) {
		// the flag we'll use to keep track of 
		// whether the current row is odd or even
		var even = false;
  
		table = tablearray[e];
		
		// by definition, tables can have more than one tbody
		// element, so we'll have to get the list of child
		// &lt;tbody&gt;s 
		var tbodies = table.getElementsByTagName("tbody");
	
		// and iterate through them...
		for (var h = 0; h < tbodies.length; h++) {
		
		 // find all the &lt;tr&gt; elements... 
		  var trs = tbodies[h].getElementsByTagName("tr");
		  
		  // ... and iterate through them
		  for (var i = 0; i < trs.length; i++) {
	
			// avoid rows that have a class attribute
			// or backgroundColor style
		   // if (!hasClass(trs[i]) && ! trs[i].style.backgroundColor) {
	 
			 // get all the cells in this row...
			  var tds = trs[i].getElementsByTagName("td");{
			
			  // and iterate through them...
			  for (var j = 0; j < tds.length; j++) {
			
				var mytd = tds[j];
	
				// avoid cells that have a class attribute
				// or backgroundColor style
			  //  if (! hasClass(mytd) && ! mytd.style.backgroundColor) {
			
				  mytd.style.backgroundColor = even ? evenColor : oddColor;{
				  
				}
			  }
			}
			// flip from odd to even, or vice-versa
			even =  ! even;
		  }
		}
	}
  }