Best method of Instantiating an XMLHttpRequest object

Question

What is the best method for creating an XMLHttpRequest object?

It should work in all capable browsers.

Answer 1

For a library-less solution, you can emulate Prototype's use of Try.these fairly easily:

function newAjax() {
    try { return new XMLHttpRequest();                    } catch(){}
    try { return new ActiveXObject('Msxml2.XMLHTTP.6.0'); } catch(){}
    try { return new ActiveXObject('Msxml2.XMLHTTP.3.0'); } catch(){}
    try { return new ActiveXObject('Msxml2.XMLHTTP');     } catch(){}
    try { return new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.XMLHTTP');  } catch(){}
    return false;
}

Answer 2

Here's a useful link and some code (should cover all bases)

http://blogs.msdn.com/xmlteam/archive/2006/10/23/using-the-right-version-of-msxml-in-internet-explorer.aspx

        var request = null;

        function InitAJAX()
        {
            var objxml = null;
            var ProgID = ["Msxml2.XMLHTTP.6.0", "Msxml2.XMLHTTP.3.0", "Microsoft.XMLHTTP"];            

            try
            {
                objxml = new XMLHttpRequest();
            }
            catch(e)
            {                
                for (var i = 0; i < ProgID.length; i++)
                {
                    try
                    {
                        objxml = new ActiveXObject(ProgID[i]);
                    }
                    catch(e)
                    {                        
                        continue;
                    }
                }
            }

            return objxml;            
        }

        request = InitAJAX();