Initial helperfunc module

Add a helperfunc module to the package to provide common helper
functions that are used by multiple modules in the package.

Author: cmlccie

ciscosparkapi/helperfunc.py

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+"""Package helper functions."""
+
+
+def utf8(string):
+    """Return the 'string' as a UTF-8 unicode encoded string."""
+    assert isinstance(string, basestring)
+    if isinstance(string, unicode):
+        return string
+    elif isinstance(string, str):
+        return unicode(string, encoding='utf-8')