I read this Dan Moore blog entry a couple of weeks ago where he asked this same question and it seems to come up quite often on the GWT developer forum as well. It is an important question to answer because it is one of the first things people ask when evaluating whether or not to adopt a specific technology. The Google Web Toolkit has now been out for more than 1.5 years, so what have people done with it in that time? I took a look at this older list by Mark Volkmann and a couple of threads on the developer forum and came up with my own set of GWT applications I would use, if I was showing off GWT to someone else. Here they are (in no particular order):

Pibb
JanRain

Pibb is a GWT based web application that combines the best features of instant messenger, email, chat and message boards. It supports OpenID, a lightweight protocol, for single sign-on and portable identity.

GPokr
Ryan Dewsbury

GPokr is a free, multi-player Texas Hold’em game written by Ryan Dewsbury, author of the book, Google Web Toolkit Applications. GPokr runs tournaments which are held starting on the 1st of each month and continue till the last day of the month.

KDice
Ryan Dewsbury

KDice is another free, multi-player strategy game by Ryan Dewsbury. It is based on Taro Ito’s Dice Wars. Gameplay in KDice is a simplified version of Risk with the primary goal being to defeat your opponents by conquering the entire map.

Google Base / Google Checkout
Google

Although I can’t tell by looking at their source, according to this post, Google is using GWT as part of their Google Base and Google Checkout applications. If Google themselves won’t use GWT, who else will?



QueWeb
Queplix

QueWeb is a commercial open source web application which provides a Customer Care solution for businesses. You can play around with their demo here.

ContactOffice
ContactOffice

ContactOffice is a professional, “virtual office” which allows users to easily manage their data (emails, contacts, meetings, etc). The beta version of ContactOffice was developed using the Google Web Toolkit. Check out the demo here.

OpenKM
Josep Llort

OpenKM is another commercial open-source document management system which enables users to capture, publish, find and store electronic documents. Take a look at their online demo.

Dismoiou.fr / Tellmewhere
BaDTech SAS

Dismoiou.fr is a web application built with GWT that allows users to collaborate and create a common database of points of interest in the world. Users can share their favorite places, see them on the map, give recommendations and even provide pictures and videos.

Are there any other really nice GWT applications out there I missed? Feel free to leave a comment and plug any GWT based application you’ve seen or have been working on.

I don’t think Nazmul Idris of developerlife ever sleeps as he has just posted four spanking new GWT tutorials up on the site:

• Using and Creating GWT Modules
• Using Servlet Sessions in GWT
• Deploying GWT Apps
• Managing History and Hyperlinks

Developerlife is a great GWT resource with many other well-written GWT tutorials. There are also several more tutorials in the pipeline, so make sure to bookmark their site and check back periodically. You may also want to check out the GWT Site Resources page for links to other useful tutorials.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who participated in the Win a Free Copy of GWT Designer contest. Congratulations to the winner Mark Chance who I hope will enjoy his free 1 year subscription of GWT Designer. Also, thanks to Instantiations for providing me with the copy of GWT Designer to give away. Remember to subscribe to the rss feed to make sure you don’t miss out on future giveaways.

We had almost fifty entries to the contest and it was quite interesting to see what the favorite GWT libraries were. I know it was an informal and unscientific poll, but based on the comments I read, I’ve come up with a list of the top five most popular GWT 3rd-party libraries:

5. Hibernate4gwt
Bruno Marchesson
For any Hibernate users out there, Hibernate4gwt allows you to painlessly use your Hibernate POJOs with GWT.

4. Gwittir
Robert Cooper and Charlie Collins
The Gwittir project provides a lot of interesting modules for your GWT projects including data-binding, animation, introspection, and more.

3. GWT-SL
George Georgovassilis
As the name implies, the GWT Server Library is it is a server-side library for GWT that focuses on providing Spring Framework integration by allowing you to expose your Spring beans as RPC services. It also provides integration with the hibernate4gwt library.

2. GWT-Ext
Sanjiv Jivan
GWT-Ext is a really nice looking GWT widget library that is closely integrated with the Ext JS library. Take a look at the GWT-Ext Showcase Demo.

1. MyGWT
Darrell Meyer
MyGWT was the overwhelming favorite in the contest with almost half the vote. It is a pure GWT widget library which shares the Ext JS L&F to create a polished set of widgets for use in your GWT applications. Take a look at the MyGWT Explorer Demo.

Honorable mentions: gwt-dnd, gwt-log, gwt-maven, gwtwindowmanager, gwt-math