function ajaxFunction(){
        var ajaxRequest;

        try{
                // Opera 8.0+, Firefox, Safari
                ajaxRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
        } catch (e){
                // Internet Explorer Browsers
                try{
                        ajaxRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
                } catch (e) {
                        try{
                                ajaxRequest = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
                        } catch (e){
                                //browsers all not support, rare case
                                alert("Your browser broke!");
                                return false;
                        }
                }

        }
        return ajaxRequest;
}
function showData() {
        htmlRequest = ajaxFunction();
        if (htmlRequest==null){ // If it cannot create a new Xmlhttp object.
                alert ("Browser does not support HTTP Request");
                return;
        }

        htmlRequest.onreadystatechange = function(){
                if(htmlRequest.readyState == 4){
                        document.getElementById("shoutarea").innerHTML = htmlRequest.responseText;
                }
        }
        htmlRequest.open("GET", "modules/shoutbox/outputinfo.php", true);
        htmlRequest.send(null);
}

showData();
setInterval("showData()",1000);
function saveData(){
        htmlRequest = ajaxFunction();
        if (htmlRequest==null){ // If it cannot create a new Xmlhttp object.
                alert ("Browser does not support HTTP Request");
                return;
        }

        if(document.shoutbox.shouter.value == "" || document.shoutbox.shouter.value == "NULL" || document.shoutbox.shouter_comment.value == "" || document.shoutbox.shouter_comment.value == "NULL"){
                alert('You need to fill in name and message!');
                return;
        }
        htmlRequest.open('POST', 'modules/shoutbox/sendshout.php');
        htmlRequest.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
        htmlRequest.send('name='+document.shoutbox.shouter.value+'&message='+document.shoutbox.shouter_comment.value+'&contact='+document.shoutbox.shouter_contact.value);

        document.shoutbox.shouter_comment.value = ''; // Updates the shout box’s text area to NULL.
        document.shoutbox.shouter_comment.focus(); // Focuses the text area.

}