Basically, I want to be able to assign objects created within filters to members in a base controller from which every controller extends. Any possible way to do that? Here's how I tried, but haven't got to make it work. What I'm trying to achieve is to have all my controllers extend a base controller. The base controller's constructor would be used to assign values to its members, those values being pulled from the session map. Example below. File grails-app/controllers/HomeController.groovy: class HomeController extends BaseController { def index = { render username } } File grails-app/controllers/BaseController.groovy: abstract class BaseController { public String username public BaseController() { username = session.username } } When running the app, the output shown is: 2010-06-15 18:17:16,671 [main] ERROR [localhost].[/webapp] - Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.codehaus.groovy.grails.web.context.GrailsContextLoaderListener org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'pluginManager' defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to locate constructor with Class parameter for class org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.DefaultGrailsControllerClass ... Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to locate constructor with Class parameter for class org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.DefaultGrailsControllerClass ... Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException ... Caused by: org.codehaus.groovy.grails.exceptions.NewInstanceCreationException: Could not create a new instance of class [com.my.package.controller.HomeController]! ... Caused by: groovy.lang.MissingPropertyException: No such property: session for class: com.my.package.controller.HomeController at com.my.package.controller.BaseController.<init>(BaseController.groovy:16) at com.my.package.controller.HomeController.<init>(HomeController.groovy) ... 2010-06-15 18:17:16,687 [main] ERROR core.StandardContext - Error listenerStart 2010-06-15 18:17:16,687 [main] ERROR core.StandardContext - Context [/webapp] startup failed due to previous errors And the app won't run. This is just an example as in my case I wouldn't want to assign a username to a string value, but rather a few objects pulled from the session map. The objects pulled from the session map are being set within filters. The alternative I see is being able to access the controller's instance within the filter's execution. Is that possible? Please help! Thanks a bunch!