Head First Servlets and JSP, 2nd Edition

Remember the difference between servlet init parameters and context init parameters

Here’s a review of the key differences between context init parameters and servlet init parameters. Pay special attention to the fact that they’re both referred to as init parameters, even though only servlet init parameters have the word “init” in the DD configuration.

Context init parameters	Servlet init parameters
Deployment Descriptor
Within the <web-app> element but NOT within a specific <servlet> element <web-app ...> <context-param> <param-name>foo</param-name> <param-value>bar</param-value> </context-param> <!-- other stuff including servlet declarations --> </web-app> Note Notice it doesn’t say “init” anywhere in the DD for context init parameters, the way it does for servlet init parameters.	Within the <servlet> element for each specific servlet <servlet> <servlet-name> BeerParamTests </servlet-name> <servlet-class> TestInitParams </servlet-class> <init-param> <param-name>foo</param-name> <param-value>bar</param-value> </init-param> <!-- other stuff --> </servlet>
Servlet Code
getServletContext().getInitParameter("foo");	getServletConfig().getInitParameter("foo");
Note It’s the same method name!
Availability
To any servlets and JSPs that are part of this web app.	To only the servlet for which the <init-param> was configured.
	(Although the servlet can choose to make it more widely available by storing it in an attribute.)