function getHttpObject() {
	var req;
    // branch for native XMLHttpRequest object
    if(window.XMLHttpRequest) {
    	try {
			req = new XMLHttpRequest();
        } catch(e) {
			alert( e.message );
        }
    // branch for IE/Windows ActiveX version
    } else if(window.ActiveXObject) {
       	try {
        	req = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
      	} catch(e) {
        	try {
          		req = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
        	} catch(e) {
          		alert( e.message );
        	}
		}
    }
    return req;
}

function getUrl( url , callback ) {
	//alert('Starting');
	var req = getHttpObject();
	//alert('Got request object ' + req);
	req.onreadystatechange = function() {
		if (req.readyState == 4) {
        	if (req.status == 200) {
        		//alert('Ready for callback');
            	callback( req.responseText );
        	} else {
            	alert("There was a problem retrieving the XML data:\n" + req.statusText);
        	}
    	}	
	};
	req.open("GET", url, true);
	req.send( null );
}

function alertResponse( message ) {
	alert( message );
}

function evaluateResponse( message ) {
	//alert( message );
	eval( message );
}

function displayTextInPane( textToDisplay , elementID ) {
	document.getElementById( elementID ).innerHTML  = textToDisplay;
}