function getContent(getUrl,getQuery,getForItem,getType,outputNum,getSessionId) {
	var timer = 0;
	var timerActive = 0;
	var timerRetry = 0;
	var timerRetryActive = 0;
	var triesCount = 0;
	
	
	function getHTTPObject() {
		var xhr = false;
		if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
			xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
		} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
			try {
				xhr = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
			} catch(e) {
				try {
					xhr = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
				} catch(e) {
					xhr = false;
				}
			}
		}
		return xhr;
	}
	
	
	function grabFile() {
		ajaxrequest = getHTTPObject();
		if (ajaxrequest) {
			triesCount = triesCount+1;
			ajaxrequest.onreadystatechange = function() {
				displayResponse(ajaxrequest);
			};
			var data = encodeURI(getUrl+"?"+getQuery);
			var datapost = encodeURI(getQuery);
			
			if (getType == "GET"){
				ajaxrequest.open("GET", data, true);
				ajaxrequest.setRequestHeader("If-Modified-Since", "Sat, 1 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT");
				ajaxrequest.setRequestHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
				// added below line to fix 411 error in firefox
				ajaxrequest.setRequestHeader("Content-Length",0);
				if (getSessionId != 0 && getSessionId != ""){
					ajaxrequest.setRequestHeader("Cookie","PHPSESSID="+getSessionId);
				}
				ajaxrequest.send(null);
			}
			else{
				ajaxrequest.open("POST", getUrl, true);
				// added below line to fix 411 error in firefox
				ajaxrequest.setRequestHeader("Content-type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
				ajaxrequest.setRequestHeader("Content-Length",0);
				if (getSessionId != 0 && getSessionId != ""){
					ajaxrequest.setRequestHeader("Cookie","PHPSESSID="+getSessionId);
				}
				ajaxrequest.send(datapost);
			}
		}
		else{
			var getresult = "NotSupported";
			var getcontent = "";
			passResult(getresult,getcontent)
			return true;
		}
	}
	
	// timeout handler will try sending request again, 3 more times, if it still fails, give up
	function tryRequestAgain() {
		clearTimeout(timer);
		clearTimeout(timerRetry);
		
		if (timerActive == 1){ // fix for firefox (and maybe others) stops function running if status reached 4 after timer was started
			timerActive = 0; //not sure of this line, may need to remove it
			if (triesCount >= 4) {
				ajaxrequest.abort();
				
				var getresult = "TimedOut_Error";
				var getcontent = "";
				passResult(getresult,getcontent)			
			}
			else{
				var getresult = "TimedOut_Retry";
				var getcontent = "";
				passResult(getresult,getcontent)
				
				if (timerRetryActive == 0){
					timerRetryActive = 1;
					timerRetry = setTimeout(function(){grabFile();},1500);
				}
			}
		}
	}
	
	function displayResponse(ajaxrequest) {
		if (ajaxrequest.readyState == 1) {
			var getresult = "Loading";
			var getcontent = "";
			passResult(getresult,getcontent)
			
			if (timerActive == 0){
				timerActive = 1; // fix for firefox
				timerRetryActive = 0;
				timer = setTimeout(function(){tryRequestAgain();},10000); // 10 seconds
			}
		}
	  
		if (ajaxrequest.readyState == 4) {
			// reset timers to stop looping
			clearTimeout(timer);
			timerActive = 0;
			clearTimeout(timerRetry);
			timerRetryActive = 0;
			
			if (ajaxrequest.status == 200 || ajaxrequest.status == 304) {
				var getresult = "Success";
				var getcontent = ajaxrequest.responseText;
				passResult(getresult,getcontent)
			}
			else{
				var getresult = "Failed_Error";
				var getcontent = ajaxrequest.status;
				passResult(getresult,getcontent)
				return true;				
			}			
		}	
	}
	
	function passResult(getresult,getcontent) {
		if (outputNum == 1){
			loadContentOne(getresult,getcontent,getForItem);
		}
		else if (outputNum == 2){
			loadContentTwo(getresult,getcontent,getForItem);
		}
		else if (outputNum == 3){
			loadContentThree(getresult,getcontent,getForItem);
		}
		else{
			loadContentOne(getresult,getcontent,getForItem);
		}
	}
	
	var doAjax = grabFile();
	return doAjax;
}