var xmlhttp=false;
var usingIE = false;

function createHttpRequestObject(){
	/*@cc_on @*/
	/*@if (@_jscript_version >= 5)@end @*/
	// JScript gives us Conditional compilation, we can cope with old IE versions.
	// and security blocked creation of the objects.
	 try {
		xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP.3.0");
		usingIE = true;//we have seperate functions because IE and Opera do not support the overrideMimeType() function
	 } catch (e) {
		try {
			xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
			usingIE = true;//we have seperate functions because IE and Opera do not support the overrideMimeType() function
		} catch (E) {
			xmlhttp = null;
		}
	 }
	
	if (!xmlhttp && typeof XMLHttpRequest!='undefined') {
		try {
			xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
			xmlhttp.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
		} catch (e) {
			xmlhttp=null;
		}
	}
	if (!xmlhttp && window.createRequest) {
		try {
			xmlhttp = window.createRequest();
			xmlhttp.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
		} catch (e) {
			xmlhttp=null;
		}
	}
	getNews();
}

function getNews(){

	//createHttpRequestObject();
	if(xmlhttp == null){
		return;
	}
	else{
		xmlhttp.open("GET", "news.php",true);
		xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
			if(xmlhttp.readyState == 4){  //4 means the load is complete
				if(usingIE){
					writeNewsIE(xmlhttp.responseText);
				}
				else{
					writeNews(xmlhttp.responseXML);
				}
			}
		}
		xmlhttp.send(null);
	}
}

function writeNewsIE(domDoc){
	
		var result = "";
		start = domDoc.indexOf('<div id="news_category">');
		end = domDoc.indexOf('</div>',start+1);
		domDoc = domDoc.substring(start+24, end);
		start = domDoc.indexOf('<ul>');
		end = domDoc.indexOf('</ul>', start+1);
		domDoc = domDoc.substring(start+4, end);
		domDoc = domDoc.split("<li>");
		for(i=0; i<=3; i++)
		{
			if(i>0)
			{
				result += ("<li>" + domDoc[i]);
			}
		}
		document.getElementById("news_preview_links").innerHTML = "<ul>" + result + "</ul>";
}

function writeNews(domDoc){
	var result = "";
	var counter = 0;
	var container;
	container = domDoc.getElementById("news_category");
	container = container.firstChild.nextSibling; //this is the ul element
	articles  = container.childNodes;
	for(i=0; i<articles.length; i++){
		if(articles[i].nodeName == "li"){
			result += "<li>" + articles[i].innerHTML + "</li>";
			counter++;
		}
		if(counter ==3){
		break;
		}
	}
	document.getElementById("news_preview_links").innerHTML = "<ul>" + result + "</ul>";
}