issue with jsp code

[zulu1900]

Hello Java Gurus,
I'm attaching some sample code from my server. I'm basically getting some weird error from second block of my code below.
The second block contains if/else; and having hard time to fix variable issue. I'm newbie, learning java.
The first block and second block contains similar code except that second block contains if/else.
I've to use if/else in second block to filter data with null value.
How do I fix the if/else block? If I remove if/else block, the code works just fine.
Your help is greatly appreciated.



-----------------------first block works without issue----------------------------------------
java.util.Date creationTime=userProperties.getDate("CREATE_TIME") ;
String DATE_FORMAT="MM/dd/yyyy";
SimpleDateFormat sdf=new SimpleDateFormat(DATE_FORMAT);
out.println ("Creation Time : "+sdf.format(creationTime)+"<br>");


--------------------second block if/else this one does not work-------------------------------
if(userProperties.getProperty("LAST_LOGTIME") != null) /* This field contains date and null value*/
{

java.util.Date lastLoginTime=userProperties.getDate("LAST_LOGTIME ");
String LAST_DATE="MM/dd/yyyy";
SimpleDateFormat lastdatesdf=new SimpleDateFormat(LAST_DATE);
out.println ("Creation Time : "+lastdatesdf.format(lastLoginTime)+"<br>");
}
else
{
lastLoginTime=" ";
}

---------------------if/else creates this error block-----------------------
lastLoginTime cannot be resolved to a variable
73: }
74: else
75: {
76: lastLoginTime=" ";
77: }
----------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thanks,
Zulu

[Junky]

The only possible way for the else branch to be executed is if getProperty returns null despite your assurances that it doesn't.

System.out.println(userProperties.getProperty("LAST_LOGTIME"));

Try adding that line directly before the if statement and see what output you get.

[zulu1900]

I put that code before the if statement but it did not return anything, it's blank. Anything else I could try?

Thanks,

[jps]

That line should not "return" anything, it should print something to the console (or somewhere else visible depending on your environment), what is printed?
Add some additional text to the line like a few numbers or special characters to make it easy to identify when the line is printed out.

lastLoginTime=" "; is not a valid java.util.Date object

lastLoginTime cannot be resolved to a variable because it was declared inside the block of code known as the if block, and the else block is not part of the if block. You will need to increase the scope of the variable to include its usage in the else block