Splits the string into an array of values, trimming each value. An empty array is returned for nulls or empty
strings
@param string
@param separator
function splitVal(string, separator) {
        var val, i, l;
        if (string === null || string.length < 1) return [];
        val = string.split(separator);
        for (i = 0, l = val.length; i < l; i = i + 1) val[i] = $.trim(val[i]);
        return val;
    }