thank you for the help. i have read through the tutorial and have come up with this

<script type="text/javascript">
function ajaxFunction()
{
var xmlHttp;
try
{
// Firefox, Opera 8.0+, Safari
xmlHttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
}
catch (e)
{
// Internet Explorer
try
{
xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
}
catch (e)
{
try
{
xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
catch (e)
{
alert("Your browser does not support AJAX!");
return false;
}
}
}
xmlHttp.onreadystatechange=function()
{
if(xmlHttp.readyState==4)
{
document.myForm.time.value=xmlHttp.responseText;
}
}
xmlHttp.open("GET","response",true);
xmlHttp.send(null);
}
</script>
<form name="newad" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" action="">
<input type="file"

<input type="file" name="image" ><input type="button" VALUE="Upload Image" onClick="ajaxFunction()”>
</form>

i have changed some of the lines to fit in with how i want it to work. i changed this line

xmlHttp.open("GET","response",true);

from

xmlHttp.open("GET","time.asp",true);

the reason being that the i do not need the time to be displayed and i am uploading files to the server. as i am uploading images is it possible to add some code to make sure that the file is an image with the correct file extension and resize the image to the correct dimensions.

I already have the code for this but it is done in php. the code i have got takes the file checks to see if it is an image then resizes the file and gives it a new name for it to be recalled on another page. the it looks like this but i dont think it will be of any use

//define a maxim size for the uploaded images
define ("MAX_SIZE","100");
// define the width and height for the thumbnail
// note that theese dimmensions are considered the maximum dimmension and are not fixed,
// because we have to keep the image ratio intact or it will be deformed
define ("WIDTH","200");
define ("HEIGHT","200");

// this is the function that will create the thumbnail image from the uploaded image
// the resize will be done considering the width and height defined, but without deforming the image
function make_thumb($img_name,$filename,$new_w,$new_h)
{
//get image extension.
$ext=getExtension($img_name);
//creates the new image using the appropriate function from gd library
if(!strcmp("jpg",$ext) || !strcmp("jpeg",$ext))
$src_img=imagecreatefromjpeg($img_name);

if(!strcmp("png",$ext))
$src_img=imagecreatefrompng($img_name);

if(!strcmp("gif",$ext))
$src_img=imagecreatefromgif($img_name);

//gets the dimmensions of the image
$old_x=imageSX($src_img);
$old_y=imageSY($src_img);

// next we will calculate the new dimmensions for the thumbnail image
// the next steps will be taken:
// 1. calculate the ratio by dividing the old dimmensions with the new ones
// 2. if the ratio for the width is higher, the width will remain the one define in WIDTH variable
// and the height will be calculated so the image ratio will not change
// 3. otherwise we will use the height ratio for the image
// as a result, only one of the dimmensions will be from the fixed ones
$ratio1=$old_x/$new_w;
$ratio2=$old_y/$new_h;
if($ratio1>$ratio2) {
$thumb_w=$new_w;
$thumb_h=$old_y/$ratio1;
}
else {
$thumb_h=$new_h;
$thumb_w=$old_x/$ratio2;
}

// we create a new image with the new dimmensions
$dst_img=ImageCreateTrueColor($thumb_w,$thumb_h);

// resize the big image to the new created one
imagecopyresampled($dst_img,$src_img,0,0,0,0,$thumb_w,$thumb_h,$old_x,$old_y);

// output the created image to the file. Now we will have the thumbnail into the file named by $filename
if(!strcmp("png",$ext))
imagepng($dst_img,$filename);
else
imagejpeg($dst_img,$filename);

if (!strcmp("gif",$ext))
imagegif($dst_img,$filename);

//destroys source and destination images.
imagedestroy($dst_img);
imagedestroy($src_img);
}

// This function reads the extension of the file.
// It is used to determine if the file is an image by checking the extension.
function getExtension($str) {
$i = strrpos($str,".");
if (!$i) { return ""; }
$l = strlen($str) - $i;
$ext = substr($str,$i+1,$l);
return $ext;
}
// This variable is used as a flag. The value is initialized with 0 (meaning no error found)
//and it will be changed to 1 if an error occures. If the error occures the file will not be uploaded.
$errors=0;
// checks if the form has been submitted
if(isset($_POST['Submit']))
{
//reads the name of the file the user submitted for uploading
$image=$_FILES['image']['name'];
// if it is not empty
if ($image)
{
// get the original name of the file from the clients machine
$filename = stripslashes($_FILES['image']['name']);

// get the extension of the file in a lower case format
$extension = getExtension($filename);
$extension = strtolower($extension);
// if it is not a known extension, we will suppose it is an error, print an error message
//and will not upload the file, otherwise we continue
if (($extension != "jpg") && ($extension != "jpeg") && ($extension != "png") && ($extension != "gif"))
{
echo '<h1>Unknown extension!</h1>';
$errors=1;
}
else
{
// get the size of the image in bytes
// $_FILES[\'image\'][\'tmp_name\'] is the temporary filename of the file in which
//the uploaded file was stored on the server
$size=getimagesize($_FILES['image']['tmp_name']);
$sizekb=filesize($_FILES['image']['tmp_name']);

//compare the size with the maxim size we defined and print error if bigger
if ($sizekb > MAX_SIZE*1024)
{
echo '<h1>You have exceeded the size limit!</h1>';
$errors=1;
}

//we will give an unique name, for example the time in unix time format
$image_name='image1'.'.'.$extension;
//the new name will be containing the full path where will be stored (images folder)
$newname="image/".$image_name;
$copied = copy($_FILES['image']['tmp_name'], $newname);
//we verify if the image has been uploaded, and print error instead
if (!$copied)
{
echo '<h1>Copy unsuccessfull!</h1>';
$errors=1;
}
else
{
// the new thumbnail image will be placed in images/thumbs/ folder
$thumb_name='image/thumbs/thumb_'.$image_name;
// call the function that will create the thumbnail. The function will get as parameters
//the image name, the thumbnail name and the width and height desired for the thumbnail
$thumb=make_thumb($newname,$thumb_name,WIDTH,HEIGHT);
}} }}

//If no errors registred, print the success message and show the thumbnail image created
if(isset($_POST['Submit']) && !$errors)
{
echo "<h1>Thumbnail created Successfully!</h1>";
echo '<img src="'.$thumb_name.'">';
}

?>

this code worked fine but the page was being reloaded every time the user clicked on submit thus loosing all other information entered on the page. Sorry for all the code.