JavaScript external domains problem when developing only on Zimbra Desktop

[howardpo]

I'm working on a Zimlet which uses Ajax calls in JavaScript to talk to external servers. My development goes well when I'm using a Zimbra server. However, my development configuration is such that it is more convenient to develop using only ZimbraDesktop. My dev environment is Mac OSX 10.5.6 on a MacBook Pro.

Is there a way to allow a Zimlet to communicate via JavaScript to external servers without using a Zimbra server? I have an "allowedDomains" entry in my Zimlet's config_template.xml file and have set it to various things (even "*") and the only domain I can seem to reach via JavaScript is *.yahoo.com. I have the Zimlet deployed to the ...\
zimbra\zdesktop\jetty\webapps\service\zimlet\_dev folder on my dev machine and it works fine except for the domain issue.

PLEASE HELP, I've been beating my head against this for days!

Howard