Need for init() method

[Sony Agrawal]

There is a question why in the KS book about the need for the init() ... that is why do we need the init() method even after the constuructors are executed??...
i guess the need is something related to the servlet context and config availability ..
could someone explain in short ... so that i can learn more about it???

[raj malhotra]

why do we need the init() method even after the constuructors are executed??...

init(ServletConfig) is the life cycle method of servlet and is called by the web container on the servlet.You cannot call it yourself at your own will to get the servlet config object.so you have to wait for this method to be called if you want to use ServletConfig object.

Thanks,
Raj

[Sony Agrawal]

right... so that is the only purpose of the init() ?? i.e to give access to the servlet config and context??

[raj malhotra]

Yes and then you can initalize your servlet further using the information from Servlet config or Servlet context.
Note still we have chance to initialize the servlet as service method will not run unless init method is complete.