Creating a Request and Handling the Result

Microsoft first created the XMLHttpRequest object. It was implemented within Internet Explorer to enable JavaScript in IE to communicate with the server directly. When other browser makers saw this functionality and recognized its possibilities, it was quickly added to Firefox, Safari, Opera, and many others.

The Microsoft implementation uses an ActiveX control. The other browsers implemented it as a JavaScript object. Because of the popularity of the JavaScript object approach, IE7 now has a JavaScript wrapper around the ActiveX control. Due to these differences, instantiating an XMLHttpRequest object is not as simple as would be hoped if cross-platform and cross-IE functionality is required.

To aid ...

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