getQueryParams.js

function getQueryParam(param) {
  // returns the query parameters portion from the url and gets rid of the ? at position [0]
	var query = window.location.search.substring(1);
	var startPos = query.indexOf(param);
	if (startPos == -1) {
		return false;
	}
	query = query.substring(startPos);

  // checks if the desired param is the last one in the query
	if (query.indexOf('&') > -1) {
		var endPos = (query.indexOf('&', startPos) == -1) ? query.indexOf('&')
																											: query.indexOf('&', startPos);
	}

	var keyValue = query.substring(startPos, endPos);
	return keyValue.split('=')[1];
}