text: function httpGet(theUrl)
  {
      var xmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
      xmlHttp.open( "GET", theUrl, false );
      xmlHttp.send( null );
      return xmlHttp.responseText;
  }
  
  function httpGetAsync(theUrl, callback)
  {
      var xmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
      xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = function() { 
          if (xmlHttp.readyState == 4 && xmlHttp.status == 200) {
              callback(xmlHttp.responseText);
          } else {
              callback(null);
          }
      }
      xmlHttp.open("GET", theUrl, true);
      xmlHttp.send(null);
  }