Issues with the scope of a variable

Hi,

In the attached file I have the following function which is a void. But I want to store the max_session_state in such a way that in can be accessed globally anywhere in the code.

Or can can be a protected class member of a new class say SessionTask class but I should be able to access this from an accessor method anywhere in the code

I am hitting a dead end here. Any help ?  Also can someone point me to a really good tutorial on scope of a variable and how to handle multiple scenarios with it


thanks
-anshu



public void characters(char ch[], int start, int length) throws SAXException {
 
            
            if (max_state) {
                  
                              
                  //System.out.println("Max Session State : " + new String(ch, start, length));
                  
                  String max_session_state=new String(ch, start, length);
                  
                  System.out.println("Max Session State : " + max_session_state );
                  
                  max_state = false;
            }
java-scop.txt