quick normalize functions for grooming strings passed into an analytics library like SiteCatalyst

normalize analytic strings

// this would be set in a closure
// but leave some values to be cached (ie not created every function call)
// and the ability to override
var norm_regex = /\s+/g;
var norm_replace = "_";

function normalize( val, reg_pattern, separator ) {
  // convert to string
  var norm_val = val+"";
  norm_regex = reg_pattern || norm_regex;
  norm_replace = separator || norm_replace;

  // analytics is expecting spaces to be "_", case to be lower, and no empty spaces before and after the string
  return ""+val.trim().replace(norm_regex, norm_replace).toLowerCase();
}

// assumptions
// Trim is available in the browser
// https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/Trim
// implement our own or borrow a library's (eg jQuery)