function getHTTPObject() {
   var xhr = false;
   if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
      xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
   } else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
      try {
         xhr = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
        } catch (e) {
         try {
            xhr = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
            } catch (e) {
               xhr = false;
            }
          }
       }
       return xhr;
   }

function grabFile(file) {
   var request = getHTTPObject();
   if (request) {
      request.onreadystatechange = function() {
         displayResponse(request);
         }
      request.open("GET", file, true);
      request.send(null);
   }
}

function displayResponse(request) {
   if (request.readyState == 4) {
      if (request.status == 200 || request.status == 304) {
         var data = request.responseXML;
         var descXML = data.getElementsByTagName("desc")[0].firstChild.nodeValue;
         var para = document.createElement("p");
         para.setAttribute("class", "text");
         var text = document.createTextNode(descXML);
         para.appendChild(text);
         var desc = document.getElementById("desc");
         while (desc.hasChildNodes()) {
            desc.removeChild(desc.lastChild);
         }
         desc.appendChild(para);
      }
   }
}

function clearDesc() {
   var desc = document.getElementById("desc");
   while (desc.hasChildNodes()) {
            desc.removeChild(desc.lastChild);
         }
}