New to Java

i want to convert a session object to a String type in JSP..

the code i am using is :

<%= session.getAttribute("empID") %>

but i want to capture the value retunred into a String variable..
i have tried doing this-->

<%! String str ; %>
<% empID= session.getAttribute("empID"); %>

but it gives an error as : cannot convert object to String type.

please give me a solution as how to capture the value a session.getAttribute returns into a string variable.
thanks in advance..