//
    // As mentioned at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLHttpRequest
    //
    if( !window.XMLHttpRequest ) XMLHttpRequest = function()
    {
      try{ return new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP.6.0") }catch(e){}
      try{ return new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP.3.0") }catch(e){}
      try{ return new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP") }catch(e){}
      try{ return new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP") }catch(e){}
      throw new Error("Could not find an XMLHttpRequest alternative.")
    };

    //
    // Makes an AJAX request to a local server function w/ optional arguments
    //
    // functionName: the name of the server's AJAX function to call
    // opt_argv: an Array of arguments for the AJAX function
    //
	function Request(function_name, opt_argv) {
	
	  if (!opt_argv)
		opt_argv = new Array();
	 
	  // Find if the last arg is a callback function; save it
	  var callback = null;
	  var len = opt_argv.length;
	  if (len > 0 && typeof opt_argv[len-1] == 'function') {
		callback = opt_argv[len-1];
		opt_argv.length--;
	  }
	  var async = (callback != null);
	 
	  // Build an Array of parameters, w/ function_name being the first parameter
	  var params = new Array(function_name);
	  for (var i = 0; i < opt_argv.length; i++) {
		params.push(opt_argv[i]);
	  }
	  var body = JSON.stringify(params);
	
	  // Create an XMLHttpRequest 'POST' request w/ an optional callback handler 
	  var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
	  req.open('POST', '/rpc', async);
	 
	  req.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
	  req.setRequestHeader("Content-length", body.length);
	  req.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");
	
	  if (async) {
		req.onreadystatechange = function() {
		  if(req.readyState == 4 && req.status == 200) {
			var response = null;
			try {
			 response = JSON.parse(req.responseText);
			} catch (e) {
			 response = req.responseText;
			}
			callback(response);
		  }
		}
	  }
	 
	  // Make the actual request
	  req.send(body);
	}

	// Adds a stub function that will pass the arguments to the AJAX call 
    function InstallFunction(obj, functionName) {
      obj[functionName] = function() { Request(functionName, arguments); }
    }

    // Server object that will contain the callable methods
    var server = {};

    // Handy "macro"
    /*
    function $(id){
      return document.getElementById(id);
    }
    */