//----------------------------------------------------
    //-- Método sincrono para a chamada do Ajax
	//-- ( o browser fica aguardando a resposta )
	//----------------------------------------------------

    var http_request_sync = false;
    function getRequestSync(url) {

        http_request_sync = false;

        if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari,...
			http_request_sync = new XMLHttpRequest();

            if (http_request_sync.overrideMimeType) {
                http_request_sync.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
                // See note below about this line
            }

        } else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE
            try {
                http_request_sync = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
            } catch (e) {
                try {
                    http_request_sync = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
                } catch (e) {}
            }
        }

        if (!http_request_sync) {
            alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
            return false;
        }

        http_request_sync.onreadystatechange = dummyFunction;
        http_request_sync.open('GET', url, false);
        http_request_sync.send(null);
		return (http_request_sync.responseText);

	}

    function dummyFunction() {

	}