var http_request = false;
			var isIE = false;
			
			
			// retrieve text of an XML document element, including
// elements using namespaces
function getElementTextNS(prefix, local, parentElem, index) {
    var result = "";
    if (prefix && isIE) {
        // IE/Windows way of handling namespaces
        result = parentElem.getElementsByTagName(prefix + ":" + local)[index];
    } else {
        // the namespace versions of this method 
        // (getElementsByTagNameNS()) operate
        // differently in Safari and Mozilla, but both
        // return value with just local name, provided 
        // there aren't conflicts with non-namespace element
        // names
        result = parentElem.getElementsByTagName(local)[index];
    }
    if (result) {
        // get text, accounting for possible
        // whitespace (carriage return) text nodes 
        if (result.childNodes.length > 1) {
            return result.childNodes[1].nodeValue;
        } else {
            return result.firstChild.nodeValue;    		
        }
    } else {
        return "n/a";
    }
}

function loadXMLDoc(url) {
    // branch for native XMLHttpRequest object
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
        req = new XMLHttpRequest();
        req.onreadystatechange = processReqChange;
        req.open("GET", url, true);
        req.send(null);
    // branch for IE/Windows ActiveX version
    } else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
        isIE = true;
        req = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
        if (req) {
            req.onreadystatechange = processReqChange;
            req.open("GET", url, true);
            req.send();
        }
    }
}

function loadDoc(evt) {
    // equalize W3C/IE event models to get event object
    evt = (evt) ? evt : ((window.event) ? window.event : null);
    if (evt) {
        // equalize W3C/IE models to get event target reference
        var elem = (evt.target) ? evt.target : ((evt.srcElement) ? evt.srcElement : null);
        if (elem) {
            try {
                if (elem.selectedIndex > 0) {
                    loadXMLDoc(elem.options[elem.selectedIndex].value);
                }	
            }
            catch(e) {
                var msg = (typeof e == "string") ? e : ((e.message) ? e.message : "Unknown Error");
                alert("Unable to get XML data:\n" + msg);
                return;
            }
        }
    }
}

// display details retrieved from XML document
function showDetail(evt) {
    evt = (evt) ? evt : ((window.event) ? window.event : null);
    var item, content, div;
    if (evt) {
        var select = (evt.target) ? evt.target : ((evt.srcElement) ? evt.srcElement : null);
        if (select && select.options.length > 1) {
            // copy <content:encoded> element text for
            // the selected item
            item = req.responseXML.getElementsByTagName("item")[select.value];
            content = getElementTextNS("content", "encoded", item, 0);
            div = document.getElementById("details");
            div.innerHTML = "";
            // blast new HTML content into "details" <div>
            div.innerHTML = content;
        }
    }
}

            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 = addContents;
                http_request.open('GET', url, true);
                http_request.send(null);

            }

            function addContents() {

                if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
                    if (http_request.status == 200) {
                        var xmldoc = http_request.responseXML;
                        var root_node = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('root').item(0);
                        
			document.getElementById("content").innerHTML = getElementTextNS("content", "encoded", item, 0);                    
                    } else {
                        alert('There was a problem with the request.');
                    }
                }





   

            }