Another Syntax error, insert "AssignmentOperator Expression" to complete Expression

Question

This error is all over the internet and yet none of the "explanations" ever explain anything, nor do they fix my problem.

public Properties getProperties(String propertiesFileName)
{
    Properties prop;
    prop = new Properties();
    InputStream in = new FileInputStream(propertiesFileName);
    prop.load(in);
    in.close();
    return prop;
    IOException localIOException;
    localIOException; //THIS LINE THROWS THE ERROR
    localIOException.printStackTrace();
    return null;
}

The line that says "localIOException;" is the cause of the error. Please tell me how I can fix this and/or why it's happening in the first place. Thanks.

EDIT:

Look at these 3 lines:

IOException localIOException;
localIOException;
localIOException.printStackTrace();

If I remove the middle line I get errors all over the place. For reasons I don't understand that middle line has to be there, but that's the line that causes my error.

Answer 1

This worked:

public Properties getProperties(String propertiesFileName)
{
    try {
        Properties prop;
        prop = new Properties();
        InputStream in = new FileInputStream(propertiesFileName);
        prop.load(in);
        in.close();
        return prop;
    } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        return null;
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        return null;
    }
}

Answer 2

The Java Language Specification forbids a line that does not conform to what it considers an expression. You don't call a method on the object or assign it to a variable, which is what the compiler is telling you.

Answer 3

If you're accesing a file and you want to check for possible errors (using java exceptions), you ought to be using try/catch blocks:

For your code:

public Properties getProperties(String propertiesFileName)
{
    Properties prop;
    prop = new Properties();

    try
    {
        InputStream in = new FileInputStream(propertiesFileName);
        prop.load(in);
        in.close();
        return prop;
    }
    catch (IOException localIOException)
    {
        localIOException.printStackTrace();
        return null;
    }
}

The code you're writing is equivalent to write:

int x;     // IOException localIOException;
x;         // localIOException; //THIS LINE THROWS THE ERROR

That's what the error means, a variable's name by itself is not an expression for Java.