File Becomes Locked so App Cannot Make Changes to it

[Steve Dyke]

When I run the following the file becomes Locked and the App cannot manipulate it.
How can I release the file after the properties are retreived?

public void setGetAppDefaults(String folderName){
		
		String filePath = folderName + "\\DPDMconfig.properties";
				
		File pFile = new File(filePath);
				
		Properties properties = new Properties();
		 
		    try {
		      properties.load(new FileInputStream(filePath));
		        
		        this.defaultSignOffQueueFilterStatus = properties.getProperty("defaultSignOffQueueFilterStatus");
		        this.defaultJobNumberSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultJobNumberSignOffQueueFilter");
		        this.defaultModelNumberSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultModelNumberSignOffQueueFilter");
		        this.defaultPrioritySignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultPrioritySignOffQueueFilter");
		        this.defaultAssignedSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultAssignmentSignOffQueueFilter");
		        this.defaultCheckedOutBySignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultCheckedByNameSignOffQueueFilter");
		        this.defaultPeVerificationSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultPeVerificationSignOffQueueFilter");
		        this.defaultRejectionsSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultRejectionsSignOffQueueFilter");
		        this.defaultSortSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultSortSignOffQueueFilter");
		        
		        this.errorString = "NoError";
		    } 
		    catch (IOException e) {
		    	this.errorString = "Error";
		    }
		   	
	}

[Rob Spoor]

Always close all your resources*. Use a finally block for this; don't be afraid to nest try statements:

public void setGetAppDefaults(String folderName) {
    String filePath = folderName + "\\DPDMconfig.properties";
    File pFile = new File(filePath);                                   // <- why is this here? you don't use it
    Properties properties = new Properties();
		 
    try {
        InputStream is = new FileInputStream(filePath);
        try {
            properties.load(is);
        }
        finally {
            // close in the finally block; is.close can throw an IOException as well
            is.close();
        }
		        
        this.defaultSignOffQueueFilterStatus = properties.getProperty("defaultSignOffQueueFilterStatus");
        this.defaultJobNumberSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultJobNumberSignOffQueueFilter");
        this.defaultModelNumberSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultModelNumberSignOffQueueFilter");
        this.defaultPrioritySignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultPrioritySignOffQueueFilter");
        this.defaultAssignedSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultAssignmentSignOffQueueFilter");
        this.defaultCheckedOutBySignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultCheckedByNameSignOffQueueFilter");
        this.defaultPeVerificationSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultPeVerificationSignOffQueueFilter");
        this.defaultRejectionsSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultRejectionsSignOffQueueFilter");
        this.defaultSortSignOffQueueFilter = properties.getProperty("defaultSortSignOffQueueFilter");

        this.errorString = "NoError";
    } 
    catch (IOException e) {
        this.errorString = "Error";
    }
}

* like InputStreams, OutputStreams, Readers, Writers, SQL connections, SQL statements, SQL result sets, etc.

You may see the following, but I think it's a lot nastier:

InputStream is = null;
try {
    is = ...
    ...
}
catch (IOException e) {
    ...
}
finally
{
    if (is != null) {
        try {
            is.close();
        }
        catch (IOException e2) {
            // silently ignore
        }
    }
}

[Steve Dyke]

Rob Prime wrote:Always close all your resources*. Use a finally block for this; don't be afraid to nest try statements:

Thanks, this is exactly what I needed.

[Rob Spoor]

You're welcome.