function onError(e)
{
    alert("Error " + e.target.status + " occurred while receiving the document.");
}

function updateAjax(id, url)
{
    var req = false;
    // Non-MS Browsers (Firefox / Opera / Safari)
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
    {
        try {
            req = new XMLHttpRequest();
        }
        catch (e)
        {
            req = false;
        }
    } 
    // MS Browser (IE7)
    else if (window.ActiveXObject)
    {
        try
        {
            req = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
        } 
        catch (e)
        {
            try
            {
                req = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
            }
            catch (e)
            {
                req = false;
            }
        }
    }
    
    var element = document.getElementById(id);
    
    if (!element)
    {
        alert("Invalid id " + id +
            "passed to updateAjax." +
            "A div or span element is required " +
            "with this id in your page.");
        return;
    }
    
    if (req)
    {
        req.open('GET', url, false);
        //req.onerror = onError;
        //req.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
        req.send(null);
        element.innerHTML = req.responseText;
    }
    else
    {
        element.innerHTML =
            "Your browser does not support the " +
            "necessary functionality to display this " +
            "page properly. This page requires " +
            "Internet Explorer 5 or better for Windows, " +
            "or Firefox for any system, or Opera for any " +
            "system, or Safari for Apple systems. Other " +
            "compatible browsers may also exist.";
    }
}

// Clear child nodes for a passed HTML element that exists within the document structure
function removeNodes(node)
{
    if ( node.hasChildNodes() )
    {
        while ( node.childNodes.length >= 1 )
        {
            node.removeChild( node.firstChild );
        }
    }
}