function makeRequest(url, method, parameters) {
        var http_request = false;

        if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari, ...
            http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
            if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
                http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
                // See note below about this line
            }
        } 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 = function() {
	        if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
	            if (http_request.status == 200) {
	            	getResponse(http_request.responseText);
	            } else {
	               //alert('There was a problem with the request.');
	            }
	        }
        };

        if (method == "GET") {
           if (url.match("=")) url+='&'+parameters;
           else url+='?'+parameters
           parameters = null;
        }
        http_request.open(method, url, true);
        http_request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
        http_request.send(parameters);
        return false;
    }