XMLHttpRequest error in IE, works without issue in Chrome/FF

Question

function addRequest(req) {
try {
    request = new XMLHttpRequest();
} catch (e) {
    try{
        request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
    }catch(e){        
        try {
            request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHttp");
        } catch (e) {
            alert("XMLHttpRequest error: " + e);
        }
    }
}
request.open("GET", req, true);
request.send(null);
return request;

}

As you can see, it IE apparently fails all 3 ways in which I try to make the request. I've been doing plenty of searches to try and find what may be the issue, but by all accounts ive read, the code ive posted above should work.

i havent used jquery for AJAX, but ive seen it recommended when others have had issues with httprequest objects. could i just replace the mess above with a couple lines of jquery and assume that it will take care of IE's ugliness?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Different versions of IE have different ways of referring to the XMLHTTP object.

It has to do with the MSXML libraries installed on your machine. What OS/IE version are you running?

Try running Windows Update. An odd solution, but one that may work here.

Answer 2

i havent used jquery for AJAX, but ive seen it recommended when others have had issues with httprequest objects. could i just replace the mess above with a couple lines of jquery and assume that it will take care of IE's ugliness?

Short answer: yes.

Although jquery syntax does things differently so you won't be explicitly creating a request and sending it. Its all wrapped up in a function. E.g. from http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.get/

$.get("test.cgi", { name: "John", time: "2pm" },
   function(data){
     alert("Data Loaded: " + data);
   });

You can forget about browser interoperability problems. As long as you stay up to date with jquery releases :) love it