my methods can't see my bean

[JeffB]

I'm using a Hashtable as a bean in my JSP file:

<jsp:useBean id=&quot;branchValues&quot; class=&quot;java.util.Hashtable&quot; scope=&quot;session&quot;>

and the methods i've declared (using <%! ... %>) can't access the bean &quot;branchValues&quot;.I have tried putting the methods inside and outside of the <useBean> declaration.

I am puzzled because the code i've entered within scriptlets (<%...%>) can access the &quot;branchValues&quot; Hashtable without a problem, but the methods cannot.
Any suggestions?