Question

When I write code in <%, I can use javax.naming, but when I write code in <%!, I get an error that javax.naming does not exist.

some examples:

<% Javax.naming.InitialContext ic = new Javax.naming.InitialContext(); %> fine
<%! void foo() { Javax.naming.InitialContext ic2 = new Javax.naming.InitialContext(); } %> error

The exact error:

rptCountsRecon_jsp.java:22: package Javax.naming does not exist
    Javax.naming.Context init = new Javax.naming.InitialContext();

I am sortof new to Java and am very new to JSP.

EDIT: added the foo method to the second example, because it may help understand my issue. Also added the exact error from Tomcat.
EDIT 2: tried adding the prefix to Context, and got a similar error.

EDIT 3: Side question… The current code gives the following error:

    try
    {
        javax.naming.Context init = new javax.naming.InitialContext();
        Context ctx = (Context) init.lookup("java:comp/env");
        String jndiName = getServletContext().getInitParameter("jndiName");
        DataSource ds = (DataSource) ctx.lookup(jndiName);
        Connection dbConn = ds.getConnection();
        PreparedStatement pstmnt = dbConn.prepareStatement(sql);
        for(int i=0; i!=binds.size(); ++i)
            pstmnt.setString(i+1, binds.elementAt(i)); //binds index starts at 1 -_-

        return pstmnt.executeQuery();
    } catch (Exception e) {
        //out.println("A naming exception occured... I don't know how to get the info of it.");
        return null;
    }

rptCountsRecon_jsp.java:28: unreported exception java.sql.SQLException; must be caught or declared to be thrown
        Connection dbConn = ds.getConnection();

Answer 1

First of all this type code should be in a servlet, not in a JSP.

Declaration (<%!):

<%! 
    javax.naming.InitialContext ic2 = new javax.naming.InitialContext();
%>

ic2 is a member variable. And the reason that you can’t do ic2 = new javax.naming.InitialContext(); there is because the constructor throws javax.naming.NamingException.

Imagine something as follows:

public class JspServlet {
    //there is no way to handle that exception here
    javax.naming.InitialContext ic2 = new javax.naming.InitialContext();
    //...

Scriptlet (<%):

<% 
    javax.naming.InitialContext ic = new javax.naming.InitialContext(); 
%>

And the reason that it can be done there (within scriplet) is because everything in the scriplet goes inside a try block of the generated JSP service method.

Imagine something as follows:

public class JspServlet {

    public void _jspService(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
             throws ServletException, java.io.IOException {             
        try {
            javax.naming.InitialContext ic = new javax.naming.InitialContext(); 
        } catch (Exception e) { 
            //...
        }

I think it will make more sense if you read more about JSP lifecycle.