Session object question put vs. putValue vs. setAttribute?

Question

I have the following code:
<%@ page import="java.util.*" %>
<jsp:useBean id="EducationBean" class="java.util.Hashtable" scope="session" />
<%
String swCurrFileName = "swcontrol.jsp";
Enumeration params = request.getParameterNames();
while (params.hasMoreElements()) {
     String name = (String)params.nextElement();
     EducationBean.put(name, request.getParameter(name));
%>
My question is I can't find any documentation on the put command, whats the difference between 'put', and 'putValue', and 'setAttribute'? When I try using the 'putValue' or 'setAttribute' command I get errors.
What I'm trying to do is store form values in a session object across several pages, and on the last page display all the form values from the previous pages.

Answer 1

the object you are calling put on is a java.util.Hashtable. put places an object into the table to be keyed off of another object. In your case, your key is the variable name and the object to be stored is your parameter from that name.
the putValue and setAttribute are methods on the session object. They both do the same action as above, but are for HttpSession objects. putValue is deprecated and you should be using setAttribute, but most WebServers have putValue() pointing to the setAttribute() method. hope this helps.