Try/catch blocks and if statements in rainfall-averaging program

I am coding a rainfall averaging program. The program lets the user input a file name and if the file cannot be found, then the user is prompted to reenter the file name. The user gets 4 tries before the application quits without processing the data, and the application itself is a rainfall averaging program like I said.

package experiment8;
import java.io.*; 
import java.util.Scanner; 
public class Exceptions
{
  static  Scanner inFile;
  public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
  {
    int fileTry = 0;
    String fileName;
    Scanner inName = new Scanner(System.in);
    System.out.println("Enter file name>");
    fileName = inName.nextLine();
    boolean fileOk;
    do
    {
      fileOk =  false;
      try
	    {
    	  
    	  Scanner scan = new Scanner (System.in);
    	  Scanner file = new Scanner(new File("inData.dat"));
	      fileOk = true;
	    }
	    catch(FileNotFoundException error)
	    {
	    	
	      System.out.println("Reenter file name>");
	      fileName = inName.nextLine();
	      fileTry++;
	    }
    } while (!fileOk && fileTry < 4);
    PrintWriter outFile = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter("outData.dat"));
    
    if (fileOk && fileTry < 4 )
    {	
    	int numDays = 0;
    	double average;
	    double inches = 0.0;
	    double total = 0.0;
	    while (inFile.hasNextFloat())
      {
        inches = inFile.nextFloat();
        total = total + inches;
	      outFile.println(inches);
	      numDays++;
      }
    
      if (numDays == 0) 
        System.out.println("Average cannot be computed " +
                         " for 0 days."); 
      else
      {
        average = total / numDays;
        outFile.println("The average rainfall over " +  
          numDays + " days is " + average); 
      }
      inFile.close();
    }
    else
    	
      System.out.println("Error");
    outFile.close();
  }
}

I am trying to code this program so when I input the correct file name, "inData.dat", I will get the proper output. However, when I do this, I continue to get prompted to reenter the file name for the next 3 times, after which I get the "Error" message. Is there something wrong with my try/catch blocks or if statements?

I have two questions about your code.

1. What is the purpose of the line Scanner scan = new Scanner (System.in); in the try-block?

2. Why do you have an if statement check if (fileOk && fileTry < 4) after the do-while block for getting the file? It seems redundant. The do-while block checks for the same condition. Once the program gets to the location of this if-statement this condition must have been met. If it wasn't, the do-while would have run again.

It is possible for you to get to a case where the do-while ends because the file was found, and the condition of this if-statement is false because fileTry < 4. I don't understand why you would care about the fileTry counter once you found the correct file. If the user tried to enter the file name 4 times and got it correct on the last try, the program will go to the else part of this if-statement and print "Error".

There are lot of issues with your program. Here are a few to get you on the way.

1. The file inData.dat does not exist. Please create it in the appropriate place.
2. After you get over that hump, there would be a Null Pointer on Line 40: inFile is null.

My recommendation is to open it in an editor such as Visual Studio Code. It would point you to a lot of warnings and you could debug your program as well.