// httpRequest.js - AJAX-supporting functions
var http_request = false;

function httpRequest(url,postData,callback) 
{
  http_request = false;

  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 = callback; // alertContents;
  http_request.open('POST', url, true);
  http_request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
  http_request.send(postData);

} // httpRequest
            
function alertContents() 
{
  if (http_request.readyState == 4) 
  {
    if (http_request.status == 200) {
      if (http_request.responseText.match('[~ ]') != null)
      {
        // Assume any output should be alerted.
        alert(http_request.responseText);
      }
    } else {
        alert('There was a problem with the request.');
    }
  }
}