Why there is a need of pageContext in JSP?

Question

When we can access all the implicit variables in JSP, why do we have pageContext ?

My assumption is the following: if we use EL expressions or JSTL, to access or set the attributes we need pageContext. Let me know whether I am right.

Answer 1

You need it to access non-implicit variables. Does it now make sense?

---

Update: Sometimes would just like to access the getter methods of HttpServletRequest and HttpSession directly. In standard JSP, both are only available by ${pageContext}. Here are some real world use examples:

---

Refreshing page when session times out:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="${pageContext.session.maxInactiveInterval}"> 

---

Passing session ID to an Applet (so that it can communicate with servlet in the same session):

<param name="jsessionid" value="${pageContext.session.id}"> 

---

Displaying some message only on first request of a session:

<c:if test="${pageContext.session['new']}">Welcome!</c:if> 

note that new has special treatment because it's a reserved keyword in EL, at least, since EL 2.2

---

Displaying user IP:

Your IP is: ${pageContext.request.remoteAddr}

---

Making links domain-relative without hardcoding current context path:

<a href="${pageContext.request.contextPath}/login">login</a> 

---

Dynamically defining the <base> tag (with a bit help of JSTL functions taglib):

<base href="${fn:replace(pageContext.request.requestURL, pageContext.request.requestURI, pageContext.request.contextPath)}/"> 

---

Etcetera. Peek around in the aforelinked HttpServletRequest and HttpSession javadoc to learn about all those getter methods. Some of them may be useful in JSP/EL as well.