XML

the DOM (Document Object Model) is a W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) standard. A DOM defines a standard way for accessing and manipulating documents like XML and HTML.

// parses an XML document into an XML DOM object
function loadXMLdoc(datafile) { 	
//Create an XMLHTTP object
//Open the XMLHTTP object
//Send an XML HTTP request to the server
//Set the response as an XML DOM object
if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { 
    xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();  // creating an XMLHttpRequest object
  } else { 
         xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); // for IE6
         }

xmlhttp.open("GET",datafile,false); // open the object
xmlhttp.send(); // send a request to the server
return xmlhttp.responseXML; // the XML DOM object created by the parser
}