public boolean isRunActive(boolean quiet) {
	try { 
	    URL url           = new URL(HTTP_DATA_SERVER + "status");
	    String reply      = _readText(url.openStream()).trim();
	    Document document = _documentBuilder.parse(new InputSource(new StringReader(reply)));
	    NodeList nlist    = document.getElementsByTagName("state");
	    if(nlist.getLength() == 0)
		throw new Exception("Could not find 'state' element in XML returned from the server");
	    
	    Element element   = (Element)nlist.item(0);
	    if(element.hasAttribute("server")){
		if(element.getAttribute("server").equals("IDLE")){
		    return false;
		}else if(element.getAttribute("server").equals("BUSY")){
		    return true;
		}else{
		    throw new Exception("Failed to interpret 'state' value from server = " + element.getAttribute("server"));
		}
	    }else{
		throw new Exception("'state' element in XML from server did not have 'server' attribute");
	    }
	}
	catch(Exception e){
	    if(!quiet){
		logPanel.add(e.toString(), LogPanel.ERROR, false);
		logPanel.add("Will assume that a run IS active", LogPanel.ERROR, false);
	    }
	    return true;
	}
    }