_scheme = _scheme.toLowerCase();
		
				baseURI = baseURI.substr(index + 1);
		
				if (baseURI.substr(0, 2) == "//")
				{
					// This is a hierarchical URI
					_nonHierarchical = "";
		
					// Trim off the "//"
					baseURI = baseURI.substr(2, baseURI.length - 2);
				}
				else
				{
					// This is a non-hierarchical URI like "mailto:bob@mail.com"
					_nonHierarchical = baseURI;
		
					if ((_valid = validateURI()) == false)
						initialize();  // Bad URI.  Clear it.
		
					// No more parsing to do for this case
					return isValid();
				}
			}
			else
			{
				// No scheme.  We will consider this a relative URI
				_scheme = "";
				_relative = true;
				_nonHierarchical = "";
			}
		
			// Ok, what we have left is everything after the <scheme>://
		
			// Now that we have stripped off any query and fragment parts, we
			// need to split the authority from the path
		
			if (isRelative())
			{
				// Don't bother looking for the authority.  It's a relative URI
				_authority = "";
				_port = "";
				_path = baseURI;
			}
			else
			{
				// Check for malformed UNC style file://///server/type/path/
				// By the time we get here, we have already trimmed the "file://"
				// so baseURI will be ///server/type/path.  If baseURI only
				// has one slash, we leave it alone because that is valid (that
				// is the case of "file:///path/to/file.txt" where there is no
				// server - implicit "localhost").
				if (baseURI.substr(0, 2) == "//")
				{
					// Trim all leading slashes
					while(baseURI.charAt(0) == "/")
						baseURI = baseURI.substr(1, baseURI.length - 1);
				}
		
				index = baseURI.search('/');
				if (index == -1)
				{
					// No path.  We must have passed something like "http://something.com"
					_authority = baseURI;
					_path = "";
				}
				else
				{
					_authority = baseURI.substr(0, index);
					_path = baseURI.substr(index, baseURI.length - index);
				}
		
				// Check to see if the URI has any username or password information.
				// For example:  ftp://username:password@server.com
				index = _authority.search('@');
				if (index != -1)
				{
					// We have a username and possibly a password
					_username = _authority.substr(0, index);
		
					// Remove the username/password from the authority
					_authority = _authority.substr(index + 1);  // Skip the '@'
		
					// Now check to see if the username also has a password
					index = _username.search(':');
					if (index != -1)
					{
						_password = _username.substring(index + 1, _username.length);
						_username = _username.substr(0, index);
					}
					else
						_password = "";
				}
				else
				{
					_username = "";
					_password = "";
				}
		
				// Lastly, check to see if the authorty has a port number.
				// This is parsed after the username/password to avoid conflicting
				// with the ':' in the 'username:password' if one exists.
				index = _authority.search(':');
				if (index != -1)
				{
					_port = _authority.substring(index + 1, _authority.length);  // skip the ':'
					_authority = _authority.substr(0, index);
				}
				else
				{
					_port = "";
				}
				
				// Lastly, normalize the authority.  Domain names
				// are case insensitive.
				_authority = _authority.toLowerCase();
			}
		
			if ((_valid = validateURI()) == false)
				initialize();  // Bad URI.  Clear it
		
			return isValid();
		}
		
		
		/********************************************************************
		 * Copy function.
		 */
		public function copyURI(uri:URI) : void
		{
			this._scheme = uri._scheme;
			this._authority = uri._authority;
			this._username = uri._username;
			this._password = uri._password;
			this._port = uri._port;
			this._path = uri._path;
			this._query = uri._query;
			this._fragment = uri._fragment;
			this._nonHierarchical = uri._nonHierarchical;
		
			this._valid = uri._valid;
			this._relative = uri._relative;
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * @private
		 * Checks if the given string only contains a-z or A-Z.
		 */
		protected function verifyAlpha(str:String) : Boolean
		{
			var pattern:RegExp = /[^a-z]/;
			var index:int;
			
			str = str.toLowerCase();
			index = str.search(pattern);
			
			if (index == -1)
				return true;
			else
				return false;
		}
		
		/**
		 * Is this a valid URI?
		 * 
		 * @return true if this object represents a valid URI, false
		 * otherwise.
		 */
		public function isValid() : Boolean
		{ 
			return this._valid;
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * Is this URI an absolute URI?  An absolute URI is a complete, fully
		 * qualified reference to a resource.  e.g. http://site.com/index.htm
		 * Non-hierarchical URI's are always absolute.
		 */
		public function isAbsolute() : Boolean
		{ 
			return !this._relative;
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * Is this URI a relative URI?  Relative URI's do not have a scheme
		 * and only contain a relative path with optional anchor and query
		 * parts.  e.g. "../reports/index.htm".  Non-hierarchical URI's
		 * will never be relative.
		 */
		public function isRelative() : Boolean
		{ 
			return this._relative;
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * Does this URI point to a resource that is a directory/folder?
		 * The URI specification dictates that any path that ends in a slash
		 * is a directory.  This is needed to be able to perform correct path
		 * logic when combining relative URI's with absolute URI's to
		 * obtain the correct absolute URI to a resource.
		 * 
		 * @see URI.chdir
		 * 
		 * @return true if this URI represents a directory resource, false
		 * if this URI represents a file resource.
		 */
		public function isDirectory() : Boolean
		{
			if (_path.length == 0)
				return false;
		
			return (_path.charAt(path.length - 1) == '/');
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * Is this URI a hierarchical URI? URI's can be  
		 */
		public function isHierarchical() : Boolean
		{ 
			return hierState;
		}
				
		
		/**
		 * The scheme of the URI.
		 */
		public function get scheme() : String
		{ 
			return URI.unescapeChars(_scheme);
		}
		public function set scheme(schemeStr:String) : void
		{
			// Normalize the scheme
			var normalized:String = schemeStr.toLowerCase();
			_scheme = URI.fastEscapeChars(normalized, URI.URIschemeExcludedBitmap);
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * The authority (host) of the URI.  Only valid for
		 * hierarchical URI's.  If the URI is relative, this will
		 * be an empty string. When setting this value, the string
		 * given is assumed to be unescaped.  When retrieving this
		 * value, the resulting string is unescaped.
		 */
		public function get authority() : String
		{ 
			return URI.unescapeChars(_authority);
		}
		public function set authority(authorityStr:String) : void
		{
			// Normalize the authority
			authorityStr = authorityStr.toLowerCase();
			
			_authority = URI.fastEscapeChars(authorityStr,
				URI.URIauthorityExcludedBitmap);
			
			// Only hierarchical URI's can have an authority, make
			// sure this URI is of the proper format.
			this.hierState = true;
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * The username of the URI.  Only valid for hierarchical
		 * URI's.  If the URI is relative, this will be an empty
		 * string.
		 * 
		 * <p>The URI specification allows for authentication
		 * credentials to be embedded in the URI as such:</p>
		 * 
		 * <p>http://user:passwd@host/path/to/file.htm</p>
		 * 
		 * <p>When setting this value, the string
		 * given is assumed to be unescaped.  When retrieving this
		 * value, the resulting string is unescaped.</p>
		 */
		public function get username() : String
		{
			return URI.unescapeChars(_username);
		}
		public function set username(usernameStr:String) : void
		{
			_username = URI.fastEscapeChars(usernameStr, URI.URIuserpassExcludedBitmap);
			
			// Only hierarchical URI's can have a username.
			this.hierState = true;
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * The password of the URI.  Similar to username.
		 * @see URI.username
		 */
		public function get password() : String
		{
			return URI.unescapeChars(_password);
		}
		public function set password(passwordStr:String) : void
		{
			_password = URI.fastEscapeChars(passwordStr,
				URI.URIuserpassExcludedBitmap);
			
			// Only hierarchical URI's can have a password.
			this.hierState = true;
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * The host port number.  Only valid for hierarchical URI's.  If
		 * the URI is relative, this will be an empty string. URI's can
		 * contain the port number of the remote host:
		 * 
		 * <p>http://site.com:8080/index.htm</p>
		 */
		public function get port() : String
		{ 
			return URI.unescapeChars(_port);
		}
		public function set port(portStr:String) : void
		{
			_port = URI.escapeChars(portStr);
			
			// Only hierarchical URI's can have a port.
			this.hierState = true;
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * The path portion of the URI.  Only valid for hierarchical
		 * URI's.  When setting this value, the string
		 * given is assumed to be unescaped.  When retrieving this
		 * value, the resulting string is unescaped.
		 * 
		 * <p>The path portion can be in one of two formats. 1) an absolute
		 * path, or 2) a relative path.  An absolute path starts with a
		 * slash ('/'), a relative path does not.</p>
		 * 
		 * <p>An absolute path may look like:</p>
		 * <listing>/full/path/to/my/file.htm</listing>
		 * 
		 * <p>A relative path may look like:</p>
		 * <listing>
		 * path/to/my/file.htm
		 * ../images/logo.gif
		 * ../../reports/index.htm
		 * </listing>
		 * 
		 * <p>Paths can be absolute or relative.  Note that this not the same as
		 * an absolute or relative URI.  An absolute URI can only have absolute
		 * paths.  For example:</p>
		 * 
		 * <listing>http:/site.com/path/to/file.htm</listing>
		 * 
		 * <p>This absolute URI has an absolute path of "/path/to/file.htm".</p>
		 * 
		 * <p>Relative URI's can have either absolute paths or relative paths.
		 * All of the following relative URI's are valid:</p>
		 * 
		 * <listing>
		 * /absolute/path/to/file.htm
		 * path/to/file.htm
		 * ../path/to/file.htm
		 * </listing>
		 */
		public function get path() : String
		{ 
			return URI.unescapeChars(_path);
		}
		public function set path(pathStr:String) : void
		{	
			this._path = URI.fastEscapeChars(pathStr, URI.URIpathExcludedBitmap);
		
			if (this._scheme == UNKNOWN_SCHEME)
			{
				// We set the path.  This is a valid URI now.
				this._scheme = "";
			}
		
			// Only hierarchical URI's can have a path.
			hierState = true;
		}
		
		
		/**
		 * The query (CGI) portion of the URI.  This part is valid for
		 * both hierarchical and non-hierarchical URI's.
		 * 
		 * <p>This accessor should only be used if a custom query syntax
		 * is used.  This URI class supports the common "param=value"
		 * style query syntax via the get/setQueryValue() and
		 * get/setQueryByMap() functions.  Those functions should be used
		 * instead if the common syntax is being used.
		 * 
		 * <p>The URI RFC does not specify any particular
		 * syntax for the query part of a URI.  It is intended to allow
		 * any format that can be agreed upon by the two communicating hosts.
		 * However, most systems have standardized on the typical CGI
		 * format:</p>
		 * 
		 * <listing>http://site.com/script.php?param1=value1&param2=value2</listing>
		 * 
		 * <p>This class has specific support for this query syntax</p>
		 * 
		 * <p>This common query format is an array of name/value
		 * pairs with its own syntax that is different from the overall URI
		 * syntax.  The query has its own escaping logic.  For a query part
		 * to be properly escaped and unescaped, it must be split into its
		 * component parts.  This accessor escapes/unescapes the entire query
		 * part without regard for it's component parts.  This has the
		 * possibliity of leaving the query string in an ambiguious state in
		 * regards to its syntax.  If the contents of the query part are
		 * important, it is recommended that get/setQueryValue() or
		 * get/setQueryByMap() are used instead.</p>
		 * 
		 * If a different query syntax is being used, a subclass of URI
		 * can be created to handle that specific syntax.
		 *  
		 * @see URI.getQueryValue, URI.getQueryByMap
		 */