function stripInvalidCharactersFromSearchField(searchForm)
{
  var searchField = searchForm.SEARCHTERM;
  if (searchField)
  {
    searchField.value = stripInvalidCharacters(searchField.value);
  }
}

function stripInvalidCharacters(text)
{
  var result = "";
  var numberOfCharacters = text.length;
  for (characterIndex = 0; characterIndex < numberOfCharacters; characterIndex++)
  {
      character = text.substr(characterIndex, 1);
    switch (character)
    {
      case "<":
      case ">":
      case "\\":
      case "\r":
      case "\n":
      case "\"":
      case "/": 
      case "\t":
      case "\f":
      case "\0":
        result += ' ';
        break;
      default:
        result += character;
        break;
    }
  }
  return result;
}