diff --git a/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java b/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java
index 9af6ed21..007674e3 100644
--- a/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java
+++ b/src/helma/framework/core/Application.java
@@ -249,10 +249,10 @@ public class Application extends UnicastRemoteObject implements IRemoteApp, Runn
     }
 
     public Prototype getPrototype (INode n) {
-    	IProperty proto = n.get ("prototype", false);
-	if (proto == null)
+    	String protoname = n.getPrototype ();
+	if (protoname == null)
 	    return null;
-	return getPrototype (proto.toString ());
+	return getPrototype (protoname);
     }
 
 
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ public class Application extends UnicastRemoteObject implements IRemoteApp, Runn
 	    unode = new Node (uname);
 	    unode.setString ("name", uname);
 	    unode.setString ("password", password);
-	    unode.setString ("prototype", "user");
+	    unode.setPrototype ("user");
 	    unode.setDbMapping (userMapping);
 	    users.setNode (uname, unode);
 	    return users.getNode (uname, false);	
diff --git a/src/helma/framework/core/ESNode.java b/src/helma/framework/core/ESNode.java
index 30e05276..f1d5bfbf 100644
--- a/src/helma/framework/core/ESNode.java
+++ b/src/helma/framework/core/ESNode.java
@@ -90,11 +90,11 @@ public class ESNode extends ObjectPrototype {
     public void setPrototype (String protoName) {
         checkNode ();
         this.protoName = protoName;
-        node.setString ("prototype", protoName);
+        node.setPrototype (protoName);
     }
 
     public String getESClassName () {
-        return protoName == null ? "Node" : protoName;
+        return protoName == null ? "HopObject" : protoName;
     }
     
     public String toString () {
diff --git a/src/helma/framework/core/HopExtension.java b/src/helma/framework/core/HopExtension.java
index 1dc20134..e98c9776 100644
--- a/src/helma/framework/core/HopExtension.java
+++ b/src/helma/framework/core/HopExtension.java
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ public class HopExtension {
 
         // methods that give access to properties and global user lists
         go.putHiddenProperty("Node", node); // register the constructor for a plain Node object.
+        go.putHiddenProperty("HopObject", node); // HopObject is the new name for node.
         go.putHiddenProperty("getProperty", new GlobalGetProperty ("getProperty", evaluator, fp));
         go.putHiddenProperty("token", new GlobalGetProperty ("token", evaluator, fp));
         go.putHiddenProperty("getUser", new GlobalGetUser ("getUser", evaluator, fp, reval));
diff --git a/src/helma/framework/core/NodeConstructor.java b/src/helma/framework/core/NodeConstructor.java
index 112d3a71..5223a804 100644
--- a/src/helma/framework/core/NodeConstructor.java
+++ b/src/helma/framework/core/NodeConstructor.java
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ public class NodeConstructor extends BuiltinFunctionObject {
 
         public ESObject doConstruct(ESObject thisObject, ESValue[] arguments) throws EcmaScriptException {
            ESNode node = null;
-           if ("Node".equals (typename)) {
+           if ("Node".equals (typename) || "hopobject".equalsIgnoreCase (typename)) {
                if (arguments.length == 0) {
                    node = new ESNode (reval.esNodePrototype, this.evaluator, null, reval);
                    reval.objectcache.put (node.getNode (), node);
diff --git a/src/helma/framework/core/RequestEvaluator.java b/src/helma/framework/core/RequestEvaluator.java
index 273826e4..6ef097b7 100644
--- a/src/helma/framework/core/RequestEvaluator.java
+++ b/src/helma/framework/core/RequestEvaluator.java
@@ -246,8 +246,8 @@ public class RequestEvaluator implements Runnable {
 	                    isProperty = false;
 	                    if (currentNode != null && currentNode.getState() != INode.VIRTUAL) // add to reqPath array
 	                        reqPath.putProperty (reqPath.size(), getNodeWrapper (currentNode));
-	                    // limit path to < 20 tokens
-	                    if (i > 20) throw new RuntimeException ("Path too deep");
+	                    // limit path to < 50 tokens
+	                    if (i > 50) throw new RuntimeException ("Path too deep");
 	                }
 
 	                if (currentNode == null)
@@ -384,9 +384,8 @@ public class RequestEvaluator implements Runnable {
 	        }
 
 	        // check XML-RPC access permissions
-	        String proto = current.getProperty ("prototype", "prototype".hashCode ()).toString ();
-	        if (proto != null)
-	            app.checkXmlRpcAccess (proto, method);
+	        String proto = ((ESNode) current).getNode().getPrototype ();
+	        app.checkXmlRpcAccess (proto, method);
 
 	        ESValue esa[] = new ESValue[l];
 	        for (int i=0; i<l; i++) {
@@ -624,7 +623,7 @@ public class RequestEvaluator implements Runnable {
 
         if (esn == null || esn.getNode() != n) {
             ObjectPrototype op = null;
-            String protoname = n.getString ("prototype", false);
+            String protoname = n.getPrototype ();
 
             // set the DbMapping of the node according to its prototype.
             // this *should* be done on the objectmodel level, but isn't currently
diff --git a/src/helma/framework/core/User.java b/src/helma/framework/core/User.java
index c161e128..c8e401bc 100644
--- a/src/helma/framework/core/User.java
+++ b/src/helma/framework/core/User.java
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ public class User implements Serializable {
     	this.app = app;
     	setNode (null);
 	cache = new Node (sid);
-             cache.setString ("prototype", "user");
+             cache.setPrototype ("user");
 	sessionID = sid;
 	onSince = System.currentTimeMillis ();
 	lastTouched = onSince;
diff --git a/src/helma/objectmodel/INode.java b/src/helma/objectmodel/INode.java
index 2a124be4..9505339e 100644
--- a/src/helma/objectmodel/INode.java
+++ b/src/helma/objectmodel/INode.java
@@ -44,9 +44,10 @@ public interface INode {
     public long lastModified ();
     public long created ();
     public boolean isAnonymous (); // is this a named node, or an anonymous node in a collection?
-    // public void setPrototype (String prototype);
-    // public String getPrototype ();
+    public String getPrototype ();
+    public void setPrototype (String prototype);
     public INode getCacheNode ();
+    public void setCacheNode (INode cache);
 
     /**
      *  node-related methods
diff --git a/src/helma/objectmodel/Node.java b/src/helma/objectmodel/Node.java
index 33721463..7e0ad354 100644
--- a/src/helma/objectmodel/Node.java
+++ b/src/helma/objectmodel/Node.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
     protected Vector links;   // links to this node
     protected Vector proplinks;  // nodes using this node as property
 
+    protected String prototype;
+
     protected String contentType;
     protected byte content[];
 
@@ -184,6 +186,14 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	    this.name = name;
     }
 
+    public String getPrototype () {
+	return prototype;
+    }
+
+    public void setPrototype (String proto) {
+	this.prototype = proto;
+    }
+
 
     public INode getParent () {
 	return parent; 
@@ -748,7 +758,7 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	return converted;
     }
 
-    Node cacheNode;
+    INode cacheNode;
     /**
      * Get the cache node for this node. This can be used to store transient cache data per node from Javascript.
      */
@@ -758,6 +768,10 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	return cacheNode;
     }
 
+    public synchronized void setCacheNode (INode cache) {
+	this.cacheNode = cache;
+    }
+
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/helma/objectmodel/db/Node.java b/src/helma/objectmodel/db/Node.java
index a446c204..2bb263d9 100644
--- a/src/helma/objectmodel/db/Node.java
+++ b/src/helma/objectmodel/db/Node.java
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	out.writeBoolean (anonymous);
     }
 
+    transient String prototype;
     transient INode cacheNode;
     transient WrappedNodeManager nmgr;
     transient DbMapping dbmap;
@@ -117,9 +118,9 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	this.name = propname;
 	this.anonymous = false;
 	if (prototype == null)
-	    setString ("prototype", ""); // set prototype to avoid db lookup if unset
+	    setPrototype ("");
 	else
-	    setString ("prototype", prototype);
+	    setPrototype (prototype);
 	this.state = VIRTUAL;
     }
 
@@ -133,7 +134,7 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	checkWriteLock ();
 	String nameField =  dbmap.getNameField ();
 	name = nameField == null ? id : rec.getValue (nameField).asString ();
-	setString ("prototype", dbmap.getTypeName ());
+	setPrototype (dbmap.getTypeName ());
 	for (Enumeration e=dbmap.db2prop.elements (); e.hasMoreElements();  ) {
 
 	    Relation rel = (Relation) e.nextElement ();
@@ -242,12 +243,8 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	this.nmgr = nmgr;
  	this.id = id;
 	this.name = name == null || "".equals (name) ? id : name;
-	if (prototype != null) {
-	    propMap = new Hashtable ();
-	    Property prop = new Property ("prototype", this);
-	    prop.setStringValue (prototype);
-	    propMap.put ("prototype", prop);
-	}
+	if (prototype != null)
+	    setPrototype (prototype);
 	created = lastmodified = System.currentTimeMillis ();
 	markAs (CLEAN);
     }
@@ -463,6 +460,21 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	return path;
     }
 
+    public String getPrototype () {
+	if (prototype == null && propMap != null) {
+	    // retrieve prototype name from properties
+	    Property pp = (Property) propMap.get ("prototype");
+	    if (pp != null)
+	        prototype = pp.getStringValue ();
+	}
+	return prototype;
+    }
+
+    public void setPrototype (String proto) {
+	this.prototype = proto;
+    }
+
+
     public void setDbMapping (DbMapping dbmap) {
 	if (this.dbmap != dbmap) {
 	    this.dbmap = dbmap;
@@ -767,6 +779,8 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	loadNodes ();
 	if (subnodes.contains (sid)) try {
 	    Node node = new Node (this, sid, nmgr, null);
+	    // set "groupname" property to value of groupby field
+	    node.setString ("groupname", sid);
 	    Relation srel = dbmap.getSubnodeRelation ();
 	    Relation prel = dbmap.getPropertyRelation ();
 	    DbMapping dbm = new DbMapping ();
@@ -1377,7 +1391,7 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	DbMapping nmap = dbmap == null ? null : dbmap.getPropertyMapping (propname);
 	if (nmap != null && nmap != n.getDbMapping()) {
 	    n.setDbMapping (nmap);
-	    n.setString ("prototype", nmap.getTypeName ());
+	    n.setPrototype (nmap.getTypeName ());
 	}
 
 	Property prop = (Property) propMap.get (p2);
@@ -1677,6 +1691,10 @@ public class Node implements INode, Serializable {
 	return cacheNode;
     }
 
+    public synchronized void setCacheNode (INode cache) {
+	this.cacheNode = cache;
+    }
+
     // walk down node path to the first non-virtual node and return its id.
     // limit max depth to 3, since there shouldn't be more then 2 layers of virtual nodes.
     public String getNonVirtualHomeID () {
diff --git a/src/helma/objectmodel/db/NodeManager.java b/src/helma/objectmodel/db/NodeManager.java
index 9f5703cf..45b00e4f 100644
--- a/src/helma/objectmodel/db/NodeManager.java
+++ b/src/helma/objectmodel/db/NodeManager.java
@@ -686,8 +686,8 @@ public final class NodeManager {
 	    Key k = home.getKey ().getVirtualKey (kstr);
 	    node = (Node) cache.get (k);
 	    if (node != null && node.getState() != INode.INVALID) {
-	        if (rel.prototype != null && !rel.prototype.equals (node.getString ("prototype", false)))
-	            node.setString ("prototype", rel.prototype);
+	        if (rel.prototype != null && !rel.prototype.equals (node.getPrototype ()))
+	            node.setPrototype (rel.prototype);
 	        return node;
 	    }
 
@@ -696,7 +696,7 @@ public final class NodeManager {
 	    if (rel.other == null || (!rel.other.isRelational() && !home.getDbMapping().isRelational())) {
 	        node = (Node) home.createNode (rel.propname);
 	        if (rel.prototype != null)
-	            node.setString ("prototype", rel.prototype);
+	            node.setPrototype (rel.prototype);
 	    } else {
 	        node = new Node (home, kstr, safe, rel.prototype);
 	    }