function makeRequest(url) { 
  var http_request = false;

  if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { 
  http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
  if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
  http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
  // See note below about this line
  }
  } else if (window.ActiveXObject) { 

  try { 
  http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
  } catch (e) {
  try {
  http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
  } catch (e) {}
  }

  }

  if (!http_request) { 
  alert('Sorry :( Could not create a XMLHTTP instace');
  return false;
  }

  http_request.onreadystatechange = function() { alertContents(http_request); }; 
  http_request.open('GET', url, true); 
  http_request.send(null); 

  }

  function alertContents(http_request) { 

  if (http_request.readyState == 4) { 
  if (http_request.status == 200) { 
  document.getElementById('qcmtoutput').innerHTML = http_request.responseText; 
  } else {
  document.getElementById('qcmtoutput').innerHTML = "A error occured!"; 
  }
  }

  }