function initChannel() {
	receiveChannelData();
}

//initiates the first data query
function receiveChannelData() {
	if (httpReceiveChannel.readyState == 4 || httpReceiveChannel.readyState == 0) {
		httpReceiveChannel.open("GET", 'pages/chat/GetChannels.php', true);
    	httpReceiveChannel.onreadystatechange = handlehttpReceiveChannel; 
		httpReceiveChannel.send(null);
	}
	setTimeout('receiveChannelData();',30000);
}

function handlehttpReceiveChannel() {
  if (httpReceiveChannel.readyState == 4) {
   // DATA RX //
	ChannelResults = httpReceiveChannel.responseText; //.split('---'); // the fields are seperated by ---
	document.getElementById('chanlist').innerHTML = httpReceiveChannel.responseText; //ChannelResults;
	}
}

function getHTTPChannelObject() {
  var xmlhttp;
  /*@cc_on
  @if (@_jscript_version >= 5)
    try {
      xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
    } catch (e) {
      try {
        xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
      } catch (E) {
        xmlhttp = false;
      }
    }
  @else
  xmlhttp = false;
  @end @*/
  if (!xmlhttp && typeof XMLHttpRequest != 'undefined') {
    try {
      xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
    } catch (e) {
      xmlhttp = false;
    }
  }
  return xmlhttp;
}

var httpReceiveChannel = getHTTPChannelObject();
//var httpSendChat = getHTTPChannelObject();