function xmlhttpPost(strURL,sel) {
   var xmlHttpReq = false;
   var self = this;
   // Mozilla/Safari
   if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
      self.xmlHttpReq = new XMLHttpRequest();
   }
   // IE
   else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
      self.xmlHttpReq = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
   }
   self.xmlHttpReq.open('POST', strURL, true);
   self.xmlHttpReq.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
   self.xmlHttpReq.onreadystatechange = function() {
      if (self.xmlHttpReq.readyState == 4) {
         updatepage(self.xmlHttpReq.responseText,sel);
      }
      else {
         show_standby();
      }
   }
   self.xmlHttpReq.send(getquerystring(sel));
}

function trim(sString)
{
   var i;
   var j;
   for ( i=0; i<sString.length && sString.charAt(i)==' '; ++i )
   {}
   for ( j=sString.length-1; j>=0 && sString.charAt(j)==' '; --j )
   {}
   if ( j<i )
   {
      return "";
   }
   return sString.substring(i,j+1);
}