var http_request = false;

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;
}
http_request.onreadystatechange = alertContents;
http_request.open('GET', url, true);
http_request.send(null);

}

function alertContents() {

if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
if (http_request.status == 200) {
//    var xmldoc = http_request.responseXML;
//  	var root_node = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('root').item(0);
	var data=http_request.responseText;
	var target_div=document.getElementById('content_area');
//	target_div.innerHTML="<br><i>"+root_node.firstChild.data+"</i>";
	target_div.innerHTML=data;
} else {
	var target_div=document.getElementById('content_area');
	target_div.innerHTML='<h1>File Not Found</h1><p>This is an "Error Code (~~~>_<~~~)" message.</p><p>Mail shangh AT cse.unsw.edu.au to report the error.</p>';
}
}

}