var http_request = false;

            function makeRequest(url, parameters) {

                http_request = false;

                if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari,...
                    http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
                    if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
                        http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
                    }
                } 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('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
                    return false;
                }
                http_request.onreadystatechange = process;
                http_request.open('POST', url, true);
      http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
      http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-length", parameters.length);
      http_request.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");
      http_request.send(parameters);


            }