How to create a variable that can be set only once but isn't final in Java

Question

I want a class that I can create instances of with one variable unset (the id), then initialise this variable later, and have it immutable after initial

Answer 1

Here's the solution I came up with based on mixing some of the answers and comments above, particularly one from @KatjaChristiansen on using assert.

public class Example {

    private long id = 0L;
    private boolean idSet = false;

    public long getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(long id) {
        // setId should not be changed after being set for the first time.
        assert ( !idSet ) : "Can't change id from " + this.id + " to " + id;
        this.id = id;
        idSet = true;
    }

    public boolean isIdSet() {
        return idSet;
    }

}

At the end of the day, I suspect that my need for this is an indication of poor design decisions elsewhere, and I should rather find a way of creating the object only when I know the Id, and setting the id to final. This way, more errors can be detected at compile time.