function getRadioValue(idOrName) {
        var value = null;
        var element = document.getElementById(idOrName);
        var radioGroupName = null;  
        
        // if null, then the id must be the radio group name
        if (element == null) {
                radioGroupName = idOrName;
        } else {
                radioGroupName = element.name;     
        }
        if (radioGroupName == null) {
                return null;
        }
        var radios = document.getElementsByTagName('input');
        for (var i=0; i<radios.length; i++) {
                var input = radios[ i ];    
                if (input.type == 'radio' && input.name == radioGroupName && input.checked) {                          
                        value = input.value;
                        break;
                }
        }
        return value;
}