var http_request = false;
   function makeRequest(url, parameters, mtype, fprefix) {
   	
	if (!mtype || mtype == 'undefined')
	mtype = 'text/html';
	
	if (!fprefix || fprefix == 'undefined')
	fprefix = '';
	
      http_request = false;
      if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari,...
         http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
         if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
         // set type accordingly to anticipated content type
            //http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
            http_request.overrideMimeType(mtype);
         }
      } 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('Cannot create XMLHTTP instance');
         return false;
      }
	  // i found a cool way to do away with the nav_makerequest (we can do this later)
      http_request.onreadystatechange = eval(fprefix + 'alertContents');
      http_request.open('GET', url + parameters, true);
      http_request.send(null);

   }

   function alertContents() {
      if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
         if (http_request.status == 200) {		 

         } else {
            alert('There was a problem with the request.');
         }
      }
   }
  
   function get(obj, mtype, fprefix) {

      var getstr = "?";
      for (i=0; i<obj.elements.length; i++) {
         if (obj.elements[i].tagName == "INPUT") {
            if (obj.elements[i].type == "text") {
               getstr += obj.elements[i].name + "=" + obj.elements[i].value + "&";
            }
			
			if (obj.elements[i].type == "hidden") {
               getstr += obj.elements[i].name + "=" + obj.elements[i].value + "&";
            }
			
            if (obj.elements[i].type == "checkbox") {
               if (obj.elements[i].checked) {
                  getstr += obj.elements[i].name + "=" + obj.elements[i].value + "&";
               } else {
                  getstr += obj.elements[i].name + "=&";
               }
            }
            if (obj.elements[i].type == "radio") {
               if (obj.elements[i].checked) {
                  getstr += obj.elements[i].name + "=" + obj.elements[i].value + "&";
               }
            }
         }   
         if (obj.elements[i].tagName == "SELECT") {
            var sel = obj.elements[i];
            getstr += sel.name + "=" + sel.options[sel.selectedIndex].value + "&";
         }         
      }
	 makeRequest('index.php', getstr, mtype, fprefix);
   }