var http_request = false;

function makePOSTRequest(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('Cannot create XMLHTTP instance');
		return false;
	}
	http_request.onreadystatechange = alertContents;
	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);
}

function alertContents() {
  if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
	 if (http_request.status == 200) {
		eval(http_request.responseText);
	 }
  }
}