u need to do the following things
firstly when u store the session value in the string variable, u need to
type cast it to string, i.e.,
String accesslevel;
accesslevel = (String)session.getAttribute("Access");
first check whether in the page where u r setting the session value, u r
using setAttribute method or setValue method
accordingly u have to use the get method, i.e., getAttribute or getValue
in both the cases u have to typecast it to String
secondly when u r comparing it to Administrator, use the following code:
if(accesslevel.equals("Administrator"){
}else{
}
also when u r retrieving the value of the session check it in the following
manner:
if(session.getAttribute("Access")!=null){
	accesslevel = (String)session.getAttribute("Access");
}else{
	redirect to the login page or the page where u r setting the session
}
if u dont check whether the session is null or not n directly typecast it to
string then it will fire a NullPointerException
hope this helps u
regards
prashant



Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you
from age. - Jean Moreau

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Al Higgs [SMTP:al.higgs@b...]
> Sent:	Friday, March 01, 2002 12:50 AM
> To:	Pro_JavaServer_Pages
> Subject:	[pro_jsp] Problems with Sessions!
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Im new to JSP and I seem to be having some problems with sessions, ill 
> quickly explain the problem.
> 
> On a page i have set a session called "user", which has got an 
> attribute called "Access".  What i want to do is define whether that 
> attribute is equal to "Administrator".  If it is i want to show a form, if
> 
> not show some error message.  But storing the value into a string seems to
> 
> be giving problems.
> 
> However i can display the value of "Access" if i use
> 
> <%=session.getAttribute("Access")%>
> 
> So why doesnt the following work??
> 
> <%
> String accesslevel;
> accesslevel = session.getAttribute("Access");
> 
> if (accesslevel != "administrator") 
> {
> out.print("Show Administrator Stuff Here");
> }
> else
> {
> out.print("Show non Administrator Stuff instead");
> }
> %>
> 
> I really appreciate any input
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Al