function getText(xUrl)
{
    var httpreq = false;
    var msg = 'Error: ';
    // branch for native XMLHttpRequest object
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
    {
        try
        {
            httpreq = new XMLHttpRequest();
        }
        catch(e)
        {
            msg += e;
            httpreq = false;
        }
    
    } 
    // branch for IE/Windows ActiveX version
    else if(window.ActiveXObject)
    {
        try
        {
            httpreq = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
        }
        catch(e)
        {
            try
            {
                httpreq = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
            }
            catch(e)
            {
                msg += e;
                httpreq = false;
            }
        }
    }
    if (httpreq)
    {
        httpreq.open("GET", xUrl, false);
        httpreq.send(null);
        msg = (httpreq.status == 200) ? httpreq.responseText : ('Error: ' + httpreq.status + ' - ' + httpreq.statusText);
    }
	return msg;
}




// Add an eventListener to browsers that can do it somehow.
// Originally by Scott Andrew.
function addEvent(obj, evType, fn)
{
    if (obj.addEventListener)
    {
        obj.addEventListener(evType, fn, true);
        return true;
    }
    else if (obj.attachEvent)
    {
        var r = obj.attachEvent("on"+evType, fn);
        return r;
    }
    else
    {
        return false;
    }
}