validating empty string

[ted_chou12]

Hi, this isn't working and is annoying me, i don't see why it doesnt work 

function ajaxChat(user) {
alert("\""+document.getElementById("message").value.length+"\"");//HERE I CHECKED THE STRING LENTH, IT SHOWS UP "0"
var ajaxRequest;  // The variable that makes Ajax possible!

try{
	// Opera 8.0+, Firefox, Safari
	ajaxRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
} catch (e) {
	// Internet Explorer Browsers
	try{
		ajaxRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
	} catch (e) {
		try{
			ajaxRequest = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
		} catch (e) {
			// Something went wrong
			alert("Your browser broke!");
			return false;
		}
	}
}
// Create a function that will receive data sent from the server
ajaxRequest.onreadystatechange = function() {
	if(ajaxRequest.readyState == 4) {
		document.getElementById('chatlog').innerHTML = ajaxRequest.responseText;
		var objDiv = document.getElementById("chatlog");
		objDiv.scrollTop = objDiv.scrollHeight;
	}
}
if (document.getElementById("message").value.length != 0) {//EVENTHOUGH THE SHOWED UP STRING LENGTH IS 0, THIS STILL PASSES TRU.
ajaxRequest.open("POST", "notices.php?ajax=chat", true);
ajaxRequest.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
  ajaxRequest.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");
ajaxRequest.send("user=" + user + "&text=" + document.getElementById("message").value);
document.getElementById("message").value = "";}

Thanks

Ted