var http_request = false;
	function makePOSTRequest(url, parameters, div) {
		http_request = false;
		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 = function() { alertContents(div); }
		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 alertContents(div) {
		if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
			if (http_request.status == 200) {
				result = http_request.responseText;
				if (result == "error") {
					var result = "<br>ERROR<br>You either left to many fields blank or the values you entered corrupted the program thus returning an error message.<br><br>Please review your entries and try again.";
				//	alert(result);return false;
				}
				else {
					document.getElementById(div).innerHTML = result;
				}      
			} else {
				if (div == "confirm") {
					var result = "<br>ERROR<br>You either left to many fields blank or the values you entered corrupted the program thus returning an error message.<br><br>Please review your entries and try again.";
					document.getElementById(div).innerHTML = result;
				}
				else {
					alert('Either an internal program error occured or that particular service is not available yet. Please contact system admin with questions.');
				}
			}
		}
	}
	function clearContents(div) {
		document.getElementById(div).innerHTML = "";            
	}
	
	function geta(url, obj, div) {
	//	alert('Either an internal program error occured or that particular service is not available yet. Please contact system admin with questions.');
		var url = "/cgi-bin/cookie.cgi";
		var div = "dead";
		var obj="?action=hello";
		makePOSTRequest(url, obj, div);
	}