static function string2associativeArray($str, $sep, $sepval, $valIfEmpty = NULL)
	{
		$str = explode($sep, $str);
		$ret = array();
		
		// for each items
		foreach ( $str as $s )
		{
			// get key and value
			$s = explode($sepval, $s);
			if ( count($s) == 2 )	// we should always have 2 items here : the key and the value
				$ret[$s[0]] = ($s[1]!='') ? $s[1] : $valIfEmpty;
		}
		
		return $ret;
	}