function getElementsByClass(searchClass,node,tag) {

 var classElements = new Array();

 if ( node == null )

 	node = document;

 if ( tag == null )

 	tag = '*';

 var els = node.getElementsByTagName(tag);

 var elsLen = els.length;

 var pattern = new RegExp("(^|\\s)"+searchClass+"(\\s|$)");

 for (i = 0, j = 0; i < elsLen; i++) {

 	if ( pattern.test(els[i].className) ) {

 		classElements[j] = els[i];

 		j++;

 	}

 }

 return classElements;

}