Every Arbortext PE sub-process contains a Java object called the Arbortext PE Application Context. The Arbortext PE Application Context is responsible for loading and executing Arbortext PE Applications upon request from the Arbortext PE Request Manager. The Arbortext PE Application Context starts when the Arbortext PE sub-process launches. Before the Arbortext PE Request Manager asks an Arbortext PE sub-process to run an Arbortext PE Application, the Arbortext PE Request Manager passes parameter information to the Arbortext PE Application Context. The parameter information includes all global parameters defined in e3config.xml, plus all of the parameters defined for the Arbortext PE sub-process pool in which the Arbortext PE sub-process will run.

The Arbortext PE Application Context stores the parameter information it receives from the Arbortext PE Request Manager in an object called the Application Configuration. An instance of this object, which implements the Java class com.arbortext.e3.E3ApplicationConfig, is passed to the init method of every Arbortext PE Application written in Java. The information is also available to JavaScript, VBScript, and ACL applications, as described in later sections.