The Pin Chases is an AJAX application that is enable by the Google Web Toolkit (GWT). It is backed by a servlet (ala GWT's RPC) that performs various functions including session tracking and intefaces to the back end. The Servlet is subclassed from the GWT API.

The backing store is XML files which are massaged by the XStream library (codehause). There is a companion application (also GWT) that allows me to create new ships and maintain existing ones. (BTW, this app is not deployed so don't bother looking for it).

Despite Google's best efforts (they claim to support all major browsers), there are quirks across different browsers. Safari seems to choke sometimes, and some versions of IE render terribly. I'm looking into these issues as time allows.

Meanwhile, Firefox seems OK across the board.