JavaServer Pages, 3rd Edition

Accessing Other Request Data

The param and paramValues variables give you access to request parameters. But there’s a lot of information passed with a request besides parameters. Header values can be accessed through the header and headerValues variables, and cookies through the cookie variable. Other request information is available through the EL as properties of the object that represents the request itself, accessed through the implicit pageContext variable’s request property. The request property is an instance of a class named javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest , and Table 8-3 shows its properties for information that isn’t available through the other implicit objects (except a few that aren’t appropriate for use in a JSP page).

Table 8-3. Properties for javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest

Property name	Java type	Access	Description
authType	String	Read	The name of the authentication scheme protecting the request
characterEncoding	String	Read	The request body character encoding, or null if unknown
contentLength	int	Read	The request body length, or -1 if unknown
contentType	String	Read	The request body MIME type
contextPath	String	Read	The context path for the request
cookies	javax.servlet.http.Cookie[]	Read	The cookies received with the request
locale	java.util.Locale	Read	The client’s preferred locale
locales	java.util.Enumeration	Read	A list of all client locales in order of preference
method	String	Read	The request ...