//XMLHttpRequest object
var http_request = false;

//creates and returns an XMLHttpRequest object
function initXMLHttp()
{
  
   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('Browser doesn\'t support AJAX');
       return false;
   }
}

//makes the request to the server
function makeRequest(url)
{
	//create an XMLHttp object
	initXMLHttp();
	
	if(http_request)
	{
		//set event handler for when response received
		http_request.onreadystatechange = processReply;
		
		//make the actual request
		http_request.open("GET", url, true);
		http_request.send(null);
	}
}

//checks the reply from the server and calls approprate functions
function processReply()
{
  if (http_request.readyState == 4) 
  {
	   // if there was no problem with the response (e.g. 401, 404 ... response)
       if (http_request.status == 200) 
	   {
		   showResults();
       } 
	   else 
	   {
		   alert('There was a problem with the request: Error code: ' + http_request.status);
       }
  }
}


function showResults()
{
    var html_content = http_request.responseText;

    document.getElementById('results').innerHTML = html_content;
}