Can someone help me out and take a look at my code snippet to see if it looks like a correct Object Request. I really appreciate any input. I want to have something CORRECT on hand to use when I need a starting point.

// basic variable setup
window.onload = createRequest; // runs the function when the page loads
var xhr = false; // makes sure xhr is false to begin
var url = "whatever.xml"; // this will be the link called in the open method later


// CREATE THE REQUEST
function createRequest () {
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
        xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
        }
        else {
            if (window.ActiveXObject) {
                try {
                    xhr = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
                }
                catch (e) { }
            }
        }
        // provides the information needed to properly create the request
        if (xhr) {
            xhr.onreadystatechange = showContents; // references the function showContents (BELOW)
            xhr.open("GET", url, true); // true is asynchronous
            xhr.send(null);
        }
        else {
            window.alert("Sorry, but I couldn't create an XMLHttpRequest"); // the request could not be created
    }
}
    
// DISPLAY THE REQUESTED INFORMATION - once the request has been created    
function showContents () {    
    if (xhr.readyState == 4) { // the request has finished loading
        if (xhr.status == 200) { // the information is okay
            var outMsg = xhr.responseText; // assigns a variable; this could be responseText OR responseXML
            // if necessary, other code could be placed here that will eventually be used
        }
        else {
            var outMsg = "There was a problem with the request " + xhr.status; // this is the error message
        }
    
            // Put code here to do something with outMsg
    }
}

Have you tested it, and if so, what doesn't work. What error are you getting?

Checkout my blog on this,
It may work better for you:

http://www.hauntednipple.co.uk/?p=16

The basic of Ajax XML Http request for these there are so many tutorials can be available on the internet with having so many advance facility it into them. These all are really great to share with us.