Application Context

An application context is a set of name-value pairs, held in memory, which can be defined, set, and retrieved by users and applications. Related values can be grouped together. The group is collectively defined and accessed by its name or namespace. Within the namespace, the individual attributes and their associated values are stored in memory and retrieved by calling a PL/SQL function call. By storing the values in either shared or private memory, depending on the context, the access to the values will be very fast.

Typically, application contexts hold several attributes, such as an application or user name, organization, role, and title. Your security policies may reference these attributes in controlling user access. Storing the values in memory saves the time and resources that would be required to repetitively query data tables to retrieve this information. Consequently, you’ll often see the application context descriptions in security documentation; however, there is no requirement to use security with an application context or to use an application context with a security implementation.

Note 

Application context descriptions are often found in security documentation. It’s not a requirement to use an application context with a security implementation or to use security with an application context.