diff -r 40eddcc3d063 -r 3a30d255c235 web/ldt/ldt_utils/utils.py
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/web/ldt/ldt_utils/utils.py	Sun Nov 14 20:25:22 2010 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+import lucene
+from ldt.ldt_utils import STORE
+from ldt.ldt_utils import ANALYZER
+import uuid
+import django.core.urlresolvers
+from django.conf import settings
+from ldt.ldt_utils.models import *
+import urllib
+import datetime
+import lxml.etree
+import base64
+
+__BOOLEAN_DICT = {
+    'false':False,
+    'true':True,
+    '0':False,
+    '1':True,
+    't': True,
+    'f':False
+}
+
+def boolean_convert(bool):
+    if bool is None:
+        return False
+    if bool is True or bool is False:
+        return bool
+    key = str(bool).lower()
+    return __BOOLEAN_DICT.get(key, False)
+
+
+def generate_uuid():
+    return unicode(uuid.uuid1())
+
+
+def normalize_tags(list):
+    nlist=[]
+    for tag in list:
+        tag = tag.lower()
+        nlist.append(tag)
+    taglist = dict().fromkeys(nlist).keys()    
+    
+    return taglist
+
+
+def create_empty_annotation():
+    iri = lxml.etree.Element('iri')
+    doc = lxml.etree.ElementTree(iri)
+    
+    textannotation = lxml.etree.SubElement(iri, 'text-annotation')
+    id = lxml.etree.SubElement(textannotation,'id')
+    uri = lxml.etree.SubElement(textannotation,'uri')
+    tags = lxml.etree.SubElement(textannotation,'tags')
+    
+    content = lxml.etree.SubElement(textannotation,'content')
+    color = lxml.etree.SubElement(content,'color')
+    description = lxml.etree.SubElement(content,'description')
+    title = lxml.etree.SubElement(content,'title')
+    text = lxml.etree.SubElement(content,'text')
+    
+    meta = lxml.etree.SubElement(textannotation,'meta')
+    contributor = lxml.etree.SubElement(meta, "contributor")
+    creator = lxml.etree.SubElement(meta, "creator")
+    creationdate = lxml.etree.SubElement(meta, "created")
+    updatedate = lxml.etree.SubElement(meta, "modified")
+
+    return doc
+