diff --git a/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java b/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java
index 41b1b1e9..528b0fbd 100644
--- a/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java
+++ b/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java
@@ -98,6 +98,9 @@ public class Application extends UnicastRemoteObject implements IRemoteApp, IRep
     // password file to use for authenticate() function
     private CryptFile pwfile;
 
+    // Map of java class names to object prototypes
+    Properties scriptables;
+
     // a cache for parsed skin objects
     CacheMap skincache = new CacheMap (100, 0.75f);
 
@@ -174,6 +177,9 @@ public class Application extends UnicastRemoteObject implements IRemoteApp, IRep
 	pwf = new File (appDir, "passwd");
 	pwfile = new CryptFile (pwf, parentpwfile);
 
+	// the properties that map java class names to prototype names
+	scriptables = new SystemProperties (new File (appDir, "scriptable.properties").getAbsolutePath ());
+	
 	// character encoding to be used for responses
 	charset = props.getProperty ("charset", "ISO-8859-1");
 
@@ -646,7 +652,7 @@ public class Application extends UnicastRemoteObject implements IRemoteApp, IRep
     /**
      * Return a path to be used in a URL pointing to the given element  and action
      */
-    public String getNodeHref (IPathElement elem, String actionName) {
+    public String getNodeHref (Object elem, String actionName) {
 	// FIXME: will fail for non-node roots
 	Object root = getDataRoot ();
 	INode users = getUserRoot ();
@@ -733,7 +739,7 @@ public class Application extends UnicastRemoteObject implements IRemoteApp, IRep
     }
 
     //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-    ///   The following methods minic the IPathElement interface. This allows as
+    ///   The following methods mimic the IPathElement interface. This allows as
     ///   to script any Java object: If the object implements IPathElement (as does
     ///   the Node class in Helma's internal objectmodel) then the corresponding
     ///   method is called in the object itself. Otherwise, a corresponding script function
@@ -785,7 +791,7 @@ public class Application extends UnicastRemoteObject implements IRemoteApp, IRep
 	    return ((IPathElement) obj).getPrototype ();
 	else
 	    // use java class name as prototype name
-	    return obj.getClass ().getName ();
+	    return scriptables.getProperty (obj.getClass ().getName ());
     }
 
     /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/helma/framework/core/RequestEvaluator.java b/src/helma/framework/core/RequestEvaluator.java
index 96edf642..92360193 100644
--- a/src/helma/framework/core/RequestEvaluator.java
+++ b/src/helma/framework/core/RequestEvaluator.java
@@ -653,12 +653,16 @@ public class RequestEvaluator implements Runnable {
     }
 
     protected Object invokeDirectFunction (Object obj, String functionName, Object[] args) throws Exception {
-	ESObject eso = getElementWrapper (obj);
+	ESObject eso = null;
+	if (obj == null)
+	    eso = global;
+	else
+	    eso = getElementWrapper (obj);
 	ESValue[] esv = args == null ? new ESValue[0] : new ESValue[args.length];
 	for (int i=0; i<esv.length; i++)
 	    esv[i] = ESLoader.normalizeValue (args[i], evaluator);
 	ESValue retval =  eso.doIndirectCall (evaluator, eso, functionName, esv);
-	return retval.toJavaObject ();
+	return retval == null ? null : retval.toJavaObject ();
     }
 
     public synchronized Object invokeFunction (Object node, String functionName, Object[] args)
@@ -761,12 +765,8 @@ public class RequestEvaluator implements Runnable {
 	if (thisObject == null)
 	    proto = app.typemgr.getPrototype ("global");
 	else {
-	    try {
-	        IPathElement elem = (IPathElement) thisObject.toJavaObject ();
-	        proto = app.getPrototype (elem);
-	    } catch (ClassCastException wrongClass) {
-	        throw new RuntimeException ("Can't render a skin on something that is not a path element: "+wrongClass);
-	    }
+	    Object elem = thisObject.toJavaObject ();
+	    proto = app.getPrototype (elem);
 	}
 	return getSkin (proto, skinname);
     }
@@ -867,7 +867,24 @@ public class RequestEvaluator implements Runnable {
 	return (ESNode) objectcache.get (n);
     }
 
+    /**
+     *  Get a Script wrapper for an object. In contrast to getElementWrapper, this is called for
+     * any Java object, not just the ones in the request path which we know are scripted.
+     * So what we do is check if the object belongs to a scripted class. If so, we call getElementWrapper()
+     * with the object, otherwise we return a generic unscripted object wrapper.
+     */
+    public ESValue getObjectWrapper (Object e) {
+	if (app.getPrototypeName (e) != null)
+	    return getElementWrapper (e);
+	else
+	    return new ESWrapper (e, evaluator);
+    }
 
+    /**
+     *  Get a Script wrapper for any given object. If the object implements the IPathElement
+     *  interface, the getPrototype method will be used to retrieve the name of the prototype
+     * to use. Otherwise, a Java-Class-to-Script-Prototype mapping is consulted.
+     */
     public ESObject getElementWrapper (Object e) {
 	
 	// check if e is an instance of a helma objectmodel node.
@@ -875,18 +892,10 @@ public class RequestEvaluator implements Runnable {
 	    return getNodeWrapper ((INode) e);
 
 	// Gotta find out the prototype name to use for this object...
-	String prototypeName = null;
-	// check if e implements the IPathElement interface
-	if (e instanceof IPathElement)
-	    // e implements the getPrototype() method
-	    prototypeName = ((IPathElement) e).getPrototype ();
-	else
-	    // use java class name as prototype name
-	    prototypeName = e.getClass ().getName ();
+	String prototypeName = app.getPrototypeName (e);
 	
 	ObjectPrototype op = getPrototype (prototypeName);
 
-
 	if (op == null)
 	    op = esNodePrototype;