pageContext.getException() always null

Hi,
I have a rather strange problem with handling an exception within a custom
jsp tag.

The problem is, that pageContext.getException() always returns null.
This is the case within the tag's code, but also witin a Scriptlet inside
the JSP.
However, the variable 'exception' itself is properly set.

My error.jsp looks like this:
<%@page isErrorPage="true" %>
<%@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/custom.tld" prefix="custom" %>

<%
System.out.println("Exception = " + exception);
System.out.println("exPage = " + pageContext.getException());
%>

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<title>Error</title>
</HEAD>
<body>
<H1>Error occured</H1>
<custom:errortag/>
</body>
</html>

The tag class has code like this:

private Exception getTerribleException() {

if (pageContext.getException() == null) {
System.out.println("pageContext has null exception");
return null;
}
...
}

Well, the output is as mentioned above: only the variable 'exception' within
the JSP can be successfully accessed. Retrieving the exception from the
pageContext always returns null.

Exception = javax.servlet.ServletException: This is my self thrown
exception.
exPage = null
pageContext has null exception

The error page is comming up by tomcat through the <error-page>
entry in web.xml:

<error-page>
<error-code>500</error-code>
<location>/error.jsp</location>
</error-page>

As far as I know, for all error pages (<%@page isErrorPage="true" %>

,
the counterpart for the implicit variable 'exception' of a JSP is
pageContext.getException().

However, something seems to go wrong.
I'm using JBoss 3.2.26 with integrated Tomcat. I also tried tomcat
standalone (5.0.18), same result.

Help greatly appreciated,
Konrad

the pageContext.getException() work on my Sun web server very well. as following, I can get error information on my web page when an exception occur.

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Error Page</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<%@ page isErrorPage="true" %>
<%@ page import="java.io.*" %>
<TABLE BORDER=5 ALIGN="CENTER">
<TR><TH CLASS="TITLE">
Error Computing Speed</TABLE>
<P>
ComputeSpeed.jsp reported the following error:
<I><%= exception %></I>. This problem occurred in the
following place:
<PRE>
<% out.println("exPage=" + pageContext.getException()); %>
</PRE>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Seems to me like a pure Tomcat-issue.
Downloaded and tested a couple of TC versions (5.0.28, 5.0.30 beta).
Same result: always returns null.

I then built Tomcat on my own (via Tomcat-5.0-Build-Script and everything worked fine there.

Looking at the source of class PageContextImpl made clear, that
the version has changed. The new implementation of method getException()
now uses instead of
.

This comes down to returning the request attribute
"javax.servlet.error.exception" instead of
"javax.servlet.jsp.jspException".

So, if you use code like

instead of

you should be fine.

However, looks like a TC bug to me.

Have fun,
Konrad