java: how to declare final a variable that is initialized inside a try - catch block?

Question

I have a variable that is not supposed to change its value after it\'s been initialized, so I want to define it as a final variable.

the problem is that the variable

Answer 1

You could handle the Exceptions more accurately. If you get an Exception opening the connection, you don't have to close it in the finally block I guess. If you get an exception after that, in the try block, and handle the exception in a new nested try-catch block you don't need to define the variable outside. Something like:

    try {
        final Connection conn = getConn(prefix);
        try {
            //code using conn
        } catch (Exception e) {

        } finally {
            closeConnection(conn);
        }
    } catch (DbHelperException e) {
        throw new DbHelperException("error opening connection", e);
    }