function makeRequest(url) {
	var httpRequest;

	if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari, ...
		httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
		if (httpRequest.overrideMimeType) {
			httpRequest.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
			// See note below about this line
		}
	} 
	else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE
		try {
			httpRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
		} 
		catch (e) {
			try {
				httpRequest = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
			} 
			catch (e) {}
		}
	}

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

function updateElementContentsByID(id, url){
	var httpRequest=makeRequest(url);
	httpRequest.onreadystatechange = function() {
		document.getElementById(id).innerHTML=httpRequest.responseText;
	//alertContents(httpRequest);
	};
	return false; // For calling anchor tags.
}

function alertContents(httpRequest) {

	if (httpRequest.readyState == 4) {
		if (httpRequest.status == 200) {
			alert(httpRequest.responseText);
		}
		else {
			alert('There was a problem with the request.');
		}
	}

}