/**
* Returns an XMLHttp instance to use for asynchronous
* downloading. This method will never throw an exception, but will
* return NULL if the browser does not support XmlHttp for any reason.
* @return {XMLHttpRequest|Null}
*/
function createXmlHttpRequest() {
 try {
   if (typeof ActiveXObject != 'undefined') {
     return new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.XMLHTTP');
   } else if (window["XMLHttpRequest"]) {
     return new XMLHttpRequest();
   }
 } catch (e) {
   changeStatus(e);
 }
 return null;
};

/**
* This functions wraps XMLHttpRequest open/send function.
* It lets you specify a URL and will call the callback if
* it gets a status code of 200.
* @param {String} url The URL to retrieve
* @param {Function} callback The function to call once retrieved.
*/
function downloadUrl(url, callback) {
 var status = -1;
 var request = createXmlHttpRequest();
 if (!request) {
   return false;
 }

 request.onreadystatechange = function() {
   if (request.readyState == 4) {
     try {
       status = request.status;
     } catch (e) {
       // Usually indicates request timed out in FF.
     }
     if (status == 200) {
       callback(request.responseText, request.status);
       request.onreadystatechange = function() {};
     }
   }
 }
 request.open('GET', url, true);
 try {
   request.send(null);
 } catch (e) {
   changeStatus(e);
 }
};

function downloadScript(url) {
  var script = document.createElement('script');
  script.src = url;
  document.body.appendChild(script);
}

function hideNavBar()
{
	// The following function triggers every time the user changes the iPhone's orientation.
	// It scrolls the window, in order to hide the navigation bar and free some more screen space:
	window.addEventListener('orientationchange', function (evt) {
		switch(window.orientation) {
			case 0: // portrait
			case 180: // portrait
			case 90: // landscape
			case -90: // landscape
				window.scrollTo(0, 1);
				break;
		}
	}, false);
	// initial hiding of the navigation bar:
	setTimeout(function() { window.scrollTo(0, 1) }, 3000);
}