JSP Empty String Problem

hi,

I have two edits on my first jsp page, which values I send via form submit to the second page.

I want to test on my second page whether these values is empty, and if they are, forward to another page.

The problem is that when the values are empty, the jsp engine regards them as "not empty"?? and doesnt go into the fowarding
if statement.

I have even tested the values by displaying them in the second page, but no luck.

If I go and set these values to "" before i execute the if, it works!

I must be missing something obvious.

--page 1--

<input type="text" name="edtItemNumber">
 <input type="text" name="edtStoreLocation">


--page 2--

String item = request.getParameter("edtItemNumber");
String location = request.getParameter("edtStoreLocation");

if ((item == "") || (location == ""))
{application.getRequestDispatcher("/oraerror.jsp?ErrorStr=Please complete Item number and Store Location." ).forward(request,response);}


Please help.