var req ;
var targetDiv ;
function startAjaxRequest(url,thisDiv) {
	req = false ;
	url = url + "&random=" + Math.random() + Math.random() ;
	targetDiv = thisDiv ;
    // branch for native XMLHttpRequest object
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
        req = new XMLHttpRequest();
        req.onreadystatechange = processReqChange;
        req.open("GET", url, true);
        req.send(null);
    } else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
  	  // branch for IE/Windows ActiveX version
        req = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
        if (req) {
            req.onreadystatechange = processReqChange;
            req.open("GET", url, true);
            req.send();
        }
    }
}

function processReqChange()  {
	if (getBrowserType() == "SA") {
		return true ;
	}
	// only if req shows "complete";
	if (req.readyState != 4) {
  		return false ;
	}
	if (req.status != 200) {
  		return false ;
	}
	if (req.responseXML) {
		var response = req.responseXML.documentElement;
		if (response && response.getElementsByTagName('record')[0]) {
			var theData = "" ;
			var theCounter = 0 ;
			while (response.getElementsByTagName('record')[theCounter]) {
				theData += response.getElementsByTagName('record')[theCounter].firstChild.data ;
				theCounter ++ ;
			}
			if (targetDiv != "") {
				document.getElementById(targetDiv).innerHTML = unescape(theData) ;
			}
			return true ;
		}
	}
}

function getBrowserType() {
	if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Opera")!=-1 && document.getElementById) type="Opera";	
	else if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Safari")!=-1) type="Safari";	
	else if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("iCab")!=-1) type="iCab";	
	else if (document.all) type="Internet Explorer";
	else if (document.layers) type="Netscape";	//Netscape Communicator 4
	else if (!document.all && document.getElementById) type="Mozilla"; //Mozila e.g. Netscape 6 upwards
	else type = "??";		//I assume it will not get here
	return type ;
}

function getPlatform() {
	browserInfo = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase() ;
	if (browserInfo.indexOf("win")!=-1) {
		platform = "Windows" ;
	} else if (browserInfo.indexOf("mac")!=-1) {
		platform = "Macintosh" ;
	} else {
		platform = "??" ;
	}
	return platform ;
}