Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition) General Discussion

Hi all,
i built a web application now i want to use session in JSP pages to remember some variable such as password and entered date because i need them in later pages and i also don't want to send them via HTML hidden field. I actually don't know how to use session. Can anyone please just tell me how to create a session and store a variable and also how to retrieve the data from the session.

Another thing is guys can anyone tell me please that say i am user and i selected some items from a HTML select list and i submitted that and logged off the system now when i login later again i want to see those choices selected by default , i know it might have been done by sessions can anyone please tell me.

THANKS VERY MUCH