This page is just a review from what you saw in the Script-free JSPs chapter, but it comes up again here because it’s crucial for a tag handler. A tag handler class, remember, is not a servlet or a JSP, so it doesn’t have automatic access to a bunch of implicit objects. But it does get a reference to a PageContext, and with it, it can get to all kinds of things it might need.

Remember that while Simple tags get a reference to a JspContext and Classic tags get a reference to a PageContext, the Simple tag’s JspContext is usually a PageContext instance. So if your Simple tag handler needs access to PageContext-specific methods or fields, you’ll have to cast it from a JspContext to the PageContext it really is on the heap.