Ajax.ULRequest = Class.create(Ajax.Request, {
  initialize: function($super, url, options) {
    $super(url,_options(options));
  }
})

Ajax.ULUpdater = Class.create(Ajax.Updater, {
  initialize: function($super, container, url, options) {    
    $super({success:container},url,_options(options));
  }
})

/*
  Set common options for AJAX requests
*/
function _options(options) {
  return Object.extend({
     asynchronous:true,
     evalScripts:true,
     onException: function(request,exception) {
       Element.hide('loading')
       alert('An exception "' + exception.message + '" was thrown accessing "' + request.url + '"');
       return true
     },
     on403: function(t) {
       Element.hide('loading')
       alert('Your session appears to have expired.  You will asked to log in again and returned here.')
       window.location.reload()
       return true
     },
     onFailure: function(t) {
       Element.hide('loading')
       alert('An unhandled error occured ' + t.status + ': ' + t.statusText);
     },
     onLoading:function(request){Element.show('loading')},
     onComplete:function(request){window.setTimeout('Element.hide("loading");', 100);}
  }, options || {});
}