var http_request = false;
var http_result_container;

function http_makePOSTRequest(url, parameters, result_container)
{
    http_request = false;
    http_result_container = result_container;

    if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
    {
        // Mozilla, Safari,...
        http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
        if (http_request.overrideMimeType)
        {
            // set type accordingly to anticipated content type
            //http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
            http_request.overrideMimeType('text/html');
        }
    }
    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 XMLHTTP instance');
        return false;
    }

    http_request.onreadystatechange = http_alertContents;
    http_request.open('POST', url, true);
    http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
    http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-length", parameters.length);
    http_request.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");
    http_request.send(parameters);
}

function http_alertContents()
{
    if (http_request.readyState == 4)
    {
        if (http_request.status == 200)
        {
            // alert(http_request.responseText);
            result = http_request.responseText;
            document.getElementById(http_result_container).innerHTML = result;
        }
        else
        {
            // alert('There was a problem with the request.');
        }
    }
}

/*
function http_get(obj)
{
    var poststr = "mytextarea1=" + encodeURI( document.getElementById("mytextarea1").value ) +
                  "&mytextarea2=" + encodeURI( document.getElementById("mytextarea2").value );

    http_makePOSTRequest('post.php', poststr, "myspan");
}
*/