function getHTTPObject()
{
    var xmlhttp;
	var _ms_XMLHttpRequest_ActiveX = ""; // Holds type of ActiveX to instantiate
    var self = this;

    // check the dom to see if this is IE or not
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
	// Not IE
        self.AJAX = new XMLHttpRequest();
    } else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
        // Instantiate the latest MS ActiveX Objects
        if (_ms_XMLHttpRequest_ActiveX) {
            self.AJAX = new ActiveXObject(_ms_XMLHttpRequest_ActiveX);
        } else {
    // loops through the various versions of XMLHTTP to ensure we're using the latest
    var versions = ["Msxml2.XMLHTTP.7.0", "Msxml2.XMLHTTP.6.0", "Msxml2.XMLHTTP.5.0", "Msxml2.XMLHTTP.4.0", "MSXML2.XMLHTTP.3.0", "MSXML2.XMLHTTP",
                        "Microsoft.XMLHTTP"];

            for (var i = 0; i < versions.length ; i++) {
                try {
                    self.AJAX = new ActiveXObject(versions[i]);

                    if (self.AJAX) {
                        _ms_XMLHttpRequest_ActiveX = versions[i];
                        break;
                    }
                }
                catch (objException) {
                // trap; try next one
                } ;
            }

            ;
        }
    }
    xmlhttp = self.AJAX;
    return xmlhttp;
}
var http = getHTTPObject();