var requester = null;


// sends an internal request
function sendRequest(requestPage, params) {

	if (requester != null && requester.readyState != 0 && requester.readyState != 4) { requester.abort(); }

	try {
		requester = new XMLHttpRequest();
	} catch (error) {

		try {
			requester = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
		} catch (error) {
			requester = null;
			return false;
		}
	}

	requester.open("POST", requestPage, false);
	requester.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
	requester.send(params);
}


function getResponse(requestPage, param) {
	var params = "param=" + encodeParam(param);
	sendRequest(requestPage, params);	// send off AJAX request
	var statusNode = requester.responseXML.getElementsByTagName("status")[0];
	var status = statusNode.childNodes[0].nodeValue;
	return (status == "success");
}


function encodeParam(input) {
	if (input == null) return ("");
	var output = input.replace(/&/g, "%26");
	return (output);
}