var newsdelay=10000; 
function sendData(data,file,canvasId) {
  var request = getHTTPObject();
  if (request) {
    request.onreadystatechange = function() {
      parseResponse(request,canvasId,data,processupdate);
    };
    request.open( "GET", file, true );
    request.setRequestHeader("Content-Type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
    request.send(data);
    return true;
  } else {
    return false;
  }
}

function parseResponse(request,canvasId,currarticle,handler) {
  if (request.readyState == 4) {
    if (request.status == 200) {
    
	return(	handler(canvasId,request.responseText,currarticle));
	
	
    }
  }
}

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

function prepareNews()
{
	// check dom compatability
	if (!document.getElementById) return false; 
	if (!document.getElementById('newsarticle')) return false; 
	if (!document.getElementById('specialpub')) return false;
	
	// set a timer and call ajax at predeterminded interval 
		
		setTimeout("showNews()",newsdelay);
}

function showNews()
{
	//dom compatible at this point so proceed and get current article
	var newsArticle=document.getElementById('newsarticle'); 
	var specialPub=document.getElementById('specialpub');

	var currArticle=newsArticle.className;
	var currSpecial=specialPub.className;
	
	sendData(currArticle,'getAjax.php?lastarticle='+escape(currArticle)+'&lastspecial='+escape(currSpecial),'newscontent');
}
function processupdate(canvasId,response,currarticle)
{
	
	var target=document.getElementById(canvasId);
	//alert(canvasId);
	//alert(response);
	//var newdiv = document.createElement("div");
	//newdiv.setAttribute('class',currarticle);
	//newdiv.innerHTML = response;
	var container = document.getElementById(canvasId);
	container.innerHTML=response;
//	container.appendChild(newdiv);

	//target.innerHTML = response;
	
	setTimeout("showNews()",newsdelay);
}
function addLoadEvent(func) {
  var oldonload = window.onload;
  if (typeof window.onload != 'function') {
    window.onload = func;
  } else {
    window.onload = function() {
      oldonload();
      func();
    }
  }
}


addLoadEvent(prepareNews);