var linkText        = "";
var indexOfLink     = 0;
var indexOfNewsItem = 0;
var tickerStopped   = false;
var speed           = 1; 
var req;

var news = Array();

function loadNewsItems(url) {
	req = false;
  // branch for native XMLHttpRequest object
  if(window.XMLHttpRequest) {
  	try {
			req = new XMLHttpRequest();
    } 
    catch(e) {
		  req = false;
    }
    
  } 
  else if(window.ActiveXObject) {
  	try {
  		req = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
  	}
  	catch(e) {
  		try {
  			req = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
  		}
  		catch(e) {
  			req = false;
  		}
  	}
  }
	if(req) {
		req.onreadystatechange = processNewsItems;
		req.open("GET", url, true);
		req.send("");
	}
}

function processNewsItems() {
	if (req.readyState == 4) {
		if (req.status == 200) {
			//alert(req.responseText);
			eval(req.responseText);
			writeNewsLink();
		}
	}
}





function buildNewsBox(rssLink, tickerSpeed) {
	speed = tickerSpeed;
	loadNewsItems("rss_reader.php?rss_link=" + rssLink);
}



function writeNewsLink(){
	numberOfNews = news.length;

	linkText     = news[indexOfNewsItem][0];
	document.getElementById("news_link").href = "popup_news_item.php?url=" + news[indexOfNewsItem][1];
	ticker();
	indexOfNewsItem++;
	if( indexOfNewsItem == numberOfNews ){
		indexOfNewsItem = 0;
	}
	window.setTimeout("writeNewsLink()", (speed*linkText.length + 4000));
}

function ticker() {
	if ( tickerStopped == true ) {
		window.setTimeout("ticker()",90);
		return;
	}
	indexOfLink++;
	document.getElementById("news_link").innerHTML = linkText.substring(0,indexOfLink) + "_";
	if( indexOfLink < linkText.length ) {
		window.setTimeout("ticker()",speed);
	}
	else{
		indexOfLink = 0;
	}
}