var reqtify;
runUpdate("/assets/scripts/fetch.x");
// retrieve XML document (reusable generic function);
// parameter is URL string (relative or complete) to
// an .xml file whose Content-Type is a valid XML
// type, such as text/xml; XML source must be from
// same domain as HTML file
function runUpdate(url) {
    // branch for native XMLHttpRequest object
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
        reqtify = new XMLHttpRequest();
        reqtify.open("GET", url, true);
        reqtify.send(null);
    // branch for IE/Windows ActiveX version
    } else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
        isIE = true;
        reqtify = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
        if (reqtify) {
            reqtify.open("GET", url, true);
            reqtify.send();
        }
    }
}