1) WebContext

The WebContext is an abstraction to deal with the HTTP request and response of any framework.

It is used to work with:

• the HTTP request by retrieving the parameters, the attributes, the headers, the method, the remote address, the server name, the server port, the server scheme, the path, the protocol, the cookies, the full URL, the content
• the HTTP response by setting the content type, the headers and cookies.

Its implementations are different depending on the pac4j implementations.

For example, there is a JEEContext for JEE applications, a PlayWebContext for Play applications, etc.

2) WebContextFactory

For a given framework/pac4j implementation, generally, the same type of web context is instantiated over and over again. Though, there are edge cases when you want to instantiate another WebContext.

This is controlled by the WebContextFactory.

Like the WebContext, its implementations are different depending on the pac4j implementations.

For example, there is a JEEContextFactory.INSTANCE to instantiate JEEContext for JEE applications.