function makeRequest(getstr) {
   var http_request = false;
   if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
      http_request = new XMLHttpRequest(); // Mozilla, Safari, ...
      if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
         http_request.overrideMimeType('text/html');
      }
   }
   else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
      try {
         http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP"); // IE
      } catch (e) {
         try {
            http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); // Opera
         } catch (e) {}
      }
   }

   if (!http_request) {
      alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
      return false;
   }

   http_request.onreadystatechange = function() { alertContents(http_request); };
   http_request.open('GET', getstr, false);
   http_request.send(null);
   return http_request.responseText;
}

function alertContents(http_request) {
   if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
      if (http_request.status == 200) {
		return http_request.responseText;
      } else {
         alert('There was a problem with the request.');
      }
   }
}