var http_request = false;

function makeRequest(url,elementId) {

  http_request = false;
  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('Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
      return false;
  }
  urlUPPER=url.toUpperCase();
  if (urlUPPER.substring(urlUPPER.length-4,urlUPPER.length)==".XML")
     { http_request.onreadystatechange = alertContentsXML; }
  else { http_request.onreadystatechange = alertContentsHTML; }
  http_request.open('GET', url, true);
  http_request.send(null);
}

function alertContentsHTML() {
    if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
        if (http_request.status == 200) {
            document.getElementById("update").innerHTML = http_request.responseText;
						document.getElementById("update").style.background = 'none'; //'url(../www/images/europe3_v8-[Converted]_text_bw.gif)';
        } else {
            alert('There was a problem with the request.');
        }
    }
}