function Hijax() {
	var container,url,canvas,data,loading,callback,request;
	this.setContainer = function(value) {
		container = value;
	};
	this.setURL = function(value) {
		url = value;
	};
	this.setCanvas = function(value) {
		canvas = value;
	};
	this.setLoading = function(value) {
		loading = value;
	};
	this.setCallback = function(value) {
		callback = value;
	};
	
	this.captureData = function() {
		//if its a form, concatenate values into a query string
		if (container.nodeName.toLowerCase() == 'form') {
			container.onsubmit = function() {
				var query = '';
				for (var i=0; i<this.elements.length; i++) {
					query+= this.elements[i].name;
					query+= '=';
					query+= escape(this.elements[i].value);
					query+= '&';
				}
				data = query;
				return !start();
			};
		//else its links, add onclick event handler to each link			
		} else {
			var links = container.getElementsByTagName('a');
			for (var i=0; i<links.length; i++) {
				links[i].onclick = function() {
					var query = this.getAttribute('href').split('?')[1];
					url+= '?'+query;
					return !start();
				};
			}
			links = null; //garbage collection because IE 5 and 6 don't do this
		}
	};
	
	//URL is specified and XMLHttpRequest instance created
	var start = function() {
		request = getHTTPObject();
		if (!request || !url) {
			return false;
		} else {
			initiateRequest();
			return true;
		}
	}
	
	var getHTTPObject = function() {
		var xmlhttp = false;
		if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
		{
			xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
		} else if(window.ActiveXObject) {
			try
			{
				xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");

			} catch(e) {
				try
				{
					xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
				} catch(e) {
					xmlhttp = false;
				}
			}
		}

		return xmlhttp;
	};
	
	var initiateRequest = function() {
		if (loading) {
			loading();
		}
		request.onreadystatechange = completeRequest;
		
		//determines which type of request to initiate based on existence of DATA
		if (data) {
			request.open('POST', url, true);
			request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
			//request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'multipart/form-data');
			
			request.send(data);
		} else {
			request.open('GET', url, true);
			request.send(null);
		}
	};
	
	var completeRequest = function() {
		if (request.readyState == 4) {
			if (request.status == 200 || request.status == 304) {
				if (canvas) {
					canvas.innerHTML = request.responseText;
				}
				if (callback) {
					callback();
				}
			}
		}
	};
}