var http_request = false;
    var accompanyingScript = ''

    function makeRequest(url,funcname,scriptname) 
    {

        http_request = false;
        accompanyingScript = scriptname

        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 = eval(funcname);
        http_request.open('GET', url, true);
        http_request.send(null);

    }

    function alertContents() 
    {

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

    }