There is also another issue of variable scope. Even if what you tried were to work, what would be the point? Assuming you could define the variable scope inside the test, your variable v would not exist outside that scope. Hence, creating the variable and assigning the value would be pointless, for you would not be able to use it.
public class Test
{
public static void main (String[] args)
{
int v = 0;
if ((v=dostuff())!=0)
{
System.out.printf("HOWDY\n");
}
}
public static int dostuff()
{
//dosomething
return 1;
}
}