using & try/catch nesting

Question

This question is more of a what is the RIGHT way to do something...

The question...is there a proper nesting order between a using block and a try/catch?

Is it ok to nest the entire using statement inside of a try/catch and maintain the benefits of a using block? (or will an exception cause the closing portion of the using statement to get thrown out the window)

Or should you nest the try/catch inside the using statements and only surround the statements that do database access?

Is...

try {
     using( tsmtcowebEntities db = new tsmtcowebEntities() ) {
          violationList = ( from a in db.DriverTrafficViolationDetails
                            where a.DriverTrafficViolation.DriverApplicationId == DriverAppId
                            orderby a.DateOfOccurance descending
                            select a ).ToList<DriverTrafficViolationDetail>();
          GeneralViolation = ( from a in db.DriverTrafficViolations
                               where a.DriverApplicationId == DriverAppId
                               select a ).FirstOrDefault();
     }
} catch { }

less/more correct than...

using( tsmtcowebEntities db = new tsmtcowebEntities() ) {
     try {
          violationList = ( from a in db.DriverTrafficViolationDetails
                            where a.DriverTrafficViolation.DriverApplicationId == DriverAppId
                            orderby a.DateOfOccurance descending
                            select a ).ToList<DriverTrafficViolationDetail>();
          GeneralViolation = ( from a in db.DriverTrafficViolations
                               where a.DriverApplicationId == DriverAppId
                               select a ).FirstOrDefault();
     } catch { }
}

Answer 1

The later is better: it will avoid masking exceptions eventually thrown dy dispose. See this article.

Answer 2

It's really a matter of style and how narrow you want to keep the scope of db:

If the using is inside the try/catch block the db variable will only be accessible within the try portion.

If the using is outside the try/catch block it will be visible within the catch portion.

Regardless, the variable will be disposed of correctly because the using block is the equivalent of a try/finally.

Personally I would be wondering why you need to catch exceptions there at all and what, if anything, you are able to do with them.