RequestDispatcher - best to get it from request or from context?

[J. Kevin Robbins]

I understand that ServletContext.getRequestDispatcher() takes a path relative to the application root, and ServletRequest.getRequestDispatcher() takes a path relative to the current requesting object. Other than that, they work exactly the same. Why do we need both?

Is this just something that changed as Java has matured and both methods were left in for backward compatibility or are there circumstances where one choice is better than the other?

Most of the code I see uses the request method, so I'm guessing this is probably the older/original way of doing things and the context method was added later for some reason?

[Bear Bibeault]

It's just a mater of preference. I always use the method on the request.

[Pete Nelson]

Jk Robbins wrote:Most of the code I see uses the request method, so I'm guessing this is probably the older/original way of doing things and the context method was added later for some reason?

I suspect the biggest reason you see the ServletRequest version used is that you already have a reference to the ServletRequest object in your do* method, so it's just easier to do request.getRequestDispatcher(...) vs getServletContext().getRequestDispatcher(...).

I've personally never called the ServletContext method, nor have I ever used a relative path.

[Bear Bibeault]

The only time the context version is required is for making cross-context dispatching, which is not supported by many containers.

[J. Kevin Robbins]

Thanks to both of you. That shines some light on things and satisfies my curiosity.