I want to make a simple script that displays a block of code via document.write() when an item's quantityavailable >= 1

I was thinking something like:

<script language="javascript">
var x= <%=getAttribute('item', 1197, 'quantityavailable')%>;
if ( x >= 1 ){
   document.write('code')
   }
else{
   document.write('<br>')
   }  
</script>

This will be used to control multiple buy buttons on a single page... if a given color is out of stock (identified by the item id, e.g. 1197), the buy button will not display.

How can I get the quantity available to integrate into the script... what tag should I use to define the variable?