Dear group,

I have written the following class below, which is a class to write
something in a log file. Now I want to make vars file, out and method
write(pStr) static, so I do not have to initialize an object when I use
this class.

Nevertheless when I make file static variable I encounter a problem. If
I try to initialize file in the code following "private BufferedWriter
out;" javac complains it wants to see a try, catch block. But when I
use the catch block, it gives me an error too. If I initialize the
static vars in the constructor I still have to make an object (once) to
use the static method since I have to be sure the static vars are
initialized, if I do not file for example is null. I am a but stucked
here now.

The latest thing I tried is copied, this gives a compile error below:

compile:
   [javac] Compiling 2 source files to E:\cvs\PROJE~9B\java\pd\build
   [javac] E:\cvs\PROJE~9B\java\pd\s\n\a\pd\LogIt.java:11: i
llegal start of type
   [javac]     try
   [javac]         ^
   [javac] E:\cvs\PROJE~9B\java\pd\s\n\a\pd\LogIt.java:49: <
identifier> expected
   [javac]     }
   [javac]                ^
   [javac] 2 errors

import java.io.*;

public class LogIt
{
    private static File file;
    private static BufferedWriter out;

    try
    {
        file = new File("logs/PGLogFile.txt");
        out  = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("logs/PGLogFile.txt",
true));
    }
    catch (IOException ex)
    {
        System.out.println("EventLog: failed opening event log with " + ex);
        System.exit(1);
    }

    public LogIt()
    {
/*         try
        {
            file = new File("logs/PGLogFile.txt");
            out  = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("logs/PdfGenLogFile.txt",
true));
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            System.out.println("EventLog: failed opening event log with " + ex);

            System.exit(1);
        }
*/     }

    public static void write(String pStr)
    {
        try
        {
       out.write(pStr);
       out.close();
        }
      catch (IOException ex)
      {
            System.out.println("EventLog: failed opening event log with " + ex);

            System.exit(1);
      }
    }   
}

Appreciation in Advance, Marcus Wentink