function createXMLDOM(){
	var arrSignatures = ["MSXML2.DOMDocument.3.0", "MSXML2.DOMDocument", "Microsoft.XmlDom","MSXML2.XMLHTTP", "Microsoft.XMLHTTP"];
	
	for (var i=0; i < arrSignatures.length; i++){
			try{
				var getXML = new ActiveXObject(arrSignatures[i]);
				return getXML;
			}
			catch (oError){
				if ((navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE') != -1)  && (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Win') != -1))  {
					//do nothing
				}else{
					var getXML = document.implementation.createDocument("","",null);
					return getXML;
				}
			}
	}
	throw new Error("MSXML is not installed on your system.");
}

function formatPubDate(pubDate){
	pubDate = new Date(pubDate);
	d = pubDate.getDate();
	y = pubDate.getYear();
	m = pubDate.getMonth() + 1;
	y = y+''
	y = y.substring(2,4)
	pubDateStr = "(" + m + "/" + d + ")";
	return pubDateStr;
}

function emitTabContent(xmlFile, tabID, linkTarget){

var getDomXML = createXMLDOM();
getDomXML.async = false;
getDomXML.load(xmlFile);

	//creates container UL
	var ulCont = document.createElement('ul');
	var x = getDomXML.getElementsByTagName("item").length;
	
	//checks to see if there's less than 8 items in the list
	if(x>9 || x==9){x=10}else{x = x + 2;}
	for(i=2;i < x; i++){
	
		if(getDomXML.getElementsByTagName("link")[i].hasChildNodes()){

			//creates li
			var liCont = document.createElement('li');
			var linkHref = getDomXML.getElementsByTagName("link")[i].childNodes[0].nodeValue
			//offsets for pubDate
			pI = i-1;
			
			var spanCont = document.createElement('span');
			spanCont.className = "ns";

			var spanDesc = getDomXML.getElementsByTagName("description")[pI].childNodes[0].nodeValue
			spanDesc = document.createTextNode(spanDesc);
				
			var aLink = document.createElement('a');
			aLink.setAttribute('href', linkHref);
			if(linkTarget=="new"){
				aLink.setAttribute('target', linkTarget);
			}
			
			
			if(getDomXML.getElementsByTagName("pubDate")[pI] != null){	
				var getPubDate = getDomXML.getElementsByTagName("pubDate")[pI].childNodes[0].nodeValue
				
				getPubDate = document.createTextNode(formatPubDate(getPubDate));
			}else{
				getPubDate = document.createTextNode("");
			}

			var dateSpan = document.createElement('span');
			
			var getHeadline = getDomXML.getElementsByTagName("title")[i].childNodes[0].nodeValue
			
			var headlineLimit = 57
			if(spanDesc.length>0){
				var headlineLimit = 55 - spanDesc.length
			}
	
			getHeadline = document.createTextNode(getHeadline.substring(0,headlineLimit));

			if(getHeadline.length > headlineLimit -1){
				moreLink = document.createTextNode('...')
			}else{
				moreLink = document.createTextNode('')
			}

			aLink.appendChild(getHeadline);
			aLink.appendChild(moreLink);
			//dateSpan.appendChild(getPubDate);
			liCont.appendChild(dateSpan);
			liCont.appendChild(aLink);
			spanCont.appendChild(spanDesc);
			liCont.appendChild(spanCont);
			ulCont.appendChild(liCont);
			
			document.getElementById(tabID).appendChild(ulCont);
		}
	}
}