from the tutorial shown here
<%
String name = request.getParameter( "username" );
session.setAttribute( "theName", name );
%>
the value you want to hold in the session object is the second parameter. the actual name that you reference is the parameter shown in quotes
so if you had username as a form field and want to hold this value you would make that bit a bit mroe understandable as
if teh user enter "john doe"
<%
String username= request.getParameter( "username" );
session.setAttribute( "currentUsername", username);
%>
now currentUsername holds john doe
and retrieve the value as
session.getAttribute( "currentUsername" )
that would output "john doe"
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The answer to your ??'s may be closer then you think.
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