Declaring Roles Using Deployment Descriptor Elements

An example of declaring roles referenced in an application using deployment descriptor elements is shown in the following web.xml deployment descriptor snippet:

<servlet>
...
    <security-role-ref>
        <role-name>cust</role-name>
        <role-link>bankCustomer</role-link>
    </security-role-ref>
...
</servlet>

When you use the isUserInRole(String role) method, the String role is mapped to the role name defined in the <role-name> element nested within the <security-role-ref> element. The <role-link> element in the web.xml deployment descriptor must match a <role-name> defined in the <security-role> element of the web.xml deployment descriptor, as shown here:

<security-role>
    <role-name>bankCustomer</role-name>
</security-role>