function showSystemMessage(){
    var xmlDoc;

    //check for IE support of ActiveX first to avoid errors in IE9
    if (typeof window.ActiveXObject != 'undefined') {
          xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("MSXML.DOMDocument");
        xmlDoc.async = "false";
        xmlDoc.load("PublicLoginMessage.xml");
        var publicMessageDocument = xmlDoc.documentElement;
        var publicMessage = publicMessageDocument.childNodes(0);
        if (publicMessage != null) {
            document.getElementById("trSystemMessage").style.display = "table-row";
            document.getElementById("tdSystemMessage").innerHTML = publicMessage.text;
        }
        else {
            document.getElementById("trSystemMessage").style.display = "none";
            document.getElementById("tdSystemMessage").innerHTML = "";
        }
    //all other browsers. IE9 does support the objects/methods being evaluated in this statement;
    //however, the code will fail when it tries to load the object as the IE document object
    //does not provide an implementation for the load method.
    } else if ((typeof document.implementation != 'undefined') && (typeof document.implementation.createDocument != 'undefined')) {
        xmlDoc = document.implementation.createDocument("", "", null)
        xmlDoc.async = false;
        xmlDoc.load("PublicLoginMessage.xml");
        var publicMessageDocument = xmlDoc.documentElement;
        var publicMessage = publicMessageDocument.childNodes[0];
        if (publicMessage != null) {
            document.getElementById("trSystemMessage").style.display = "table-row";
            document.getElementById("tdSystemMessage").innerHTML = publicMessage.textContent;
        }
        else {
            document.getElementById("trSystemMessage").style.display = "none";
            document.getElementById("tdSystemMessage").innerHTML = "";
        }
    }
}