function getElement(aID) 
{ 
return (document.getElementById) ? document.getElementById(aID): document.all[aID]; 
} 
function makeRequest(url){ 
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('Giving up:(Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance)'); 
return false; 
} 
return http_request; 
}