Difference b/w and

Question

DD elements and both can be retrieved by the getInitParameter() method, in the servlet code.<

Answer 1

As explained by Adeel Ansari, here, it depends on what object are you invoking the method getInitParameter() in the servlet code.

All servlets extends from and hence are instance of GenericServlet.

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DD elements can be retrieved by:

ServletContext context = this.getServletContext();
String paramValue = context.getInitParamter("paramName");

.

DD elements both can be retrieved by:

ServletConfig config = this.getServletConfig();
String paramValue = config.getInitParamter("paramName");

Also note that since GenericServlet class implements ServletConfig interface, your servlet class is also ServletConfig (implies this = this.getServletConfig() ). Hence you can also get DD elements directly by:

String paramValue = this.getInitParamter("paramName");

.

You can try this by having same param-name in both DD elements with different values and then print it in your servlet.