var http_request = false;
var tmpObjID = null;

function makeRequest(url, objID) 
{
	http_request = false;
	tmpObjID = objID;
	
	if (window.XMLHttpRequest) 
	{ // Mozilla, Safari,...
       	http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
        if (http_request.overrideMimeType) 
		{
            http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
        }
	} else if (window.ActiveXObject) 
	{ // IE
        try 
		{
            http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
        } catch (e) 
		{
            try 
			{
                http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
			} catch (e) {}
        }
	}

    if (!http_request) 
	{
        alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
        return false;
	}
    
	http_request.onreadystatechange = alertContents;
		
    http_request.open('GET', url, true);
    http_request.send(null);

}

function alertContents() 
{
	if (http_request.readyState == 4) 
	{
		if (http_request.status == 200) 
		{
			var response = http_request.responseText;
			// var xmldoc = http_request.responseXML;
			//var root_node = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('root').item(0);
            //alert(root_node.firstChild.data);
		
			document.getElementById(tmpObjID).innerHTML = response;
        } else 
		{
            alert('There was a problem with the request.');
        }
	}
}