//Gets the browser specific XmlHttpRequest Object
function getXmlHttpRequestObject() {
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
	return new XMLHttpRequest();
    } else if(window.ActiveXObject) {
	try {
	    return new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
	} catch (e) {
	    try {
		return new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
	    } catch (E) {
		alert(error_no_ajax_support);
                return null;
	    }
	}
    } else {
	alert(error_no_ajax_support);
        return null;
    }
}