Variable not retaining value

Hi,
So I delcared a couple arrayLists at the top of my program just under the public Class classname{. I assigned values to these arrayLists in a method called onEnable(). When I create a seperate method for each of these like:

Code:

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public int[] getArray() {
                int[] arrayInt = new int[array.size()];
            for (int i=0; i < arrayInt.length; i++)
            {
                    arrayInt[i] = array.get(i).intValue();
            }
            System.out.println("in array: " + arrayInt.length );
                return arrayInt;
        }

---

the elements of the array get reset to default values. How to i declare my varibles so they retain their values through methods?

It's hard to know where your problem lies based on the code snippet you've posted, but in general, for a variable to be visible and retain its value in multiple methods of the class, it needs to be declared in the class scope.

is this what you mean?

Code:

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public class Blockremover extends JavaPlugin {
        int numWorld = 0;
        ArrayList<Integer> array = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    ArrayList<Integer> arraySplit = new ArrayList<Integer>();
        ArrayList<String> worldArray = new ArrayList<String>();

---

cause thats how i have it and its not retaining

I too am not sure of what the problem is but one thing I want to mention is that the array and List do not store objects but rather references to objects. Therefore if you change the state of an object in the List then that change will also be seen by the array. Is this the problem you are seeing?

well im not sure. What im doing is reading in integers from a textfile and storing them in different ArrayLists, so would that be the problem then?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MichaelT

well im not sure. What im doing is reading in integers from a textfile and storing them in different ArrayLists, so would that be the problem then?

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It depends on how you do it, and again, based on the snippets you've posted, it's hard to say. You really need to give more information if you need help. We are terrible at reading minds and at guessing at missing code.

Code:

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                              inputId = new FileReader("plugins/Blockremover/"+ worldArray.get(i)+".txt");
                              bufRead3 = new BufferedReader(inputId);

                              for(int j=0; j<forTill ; j++){
                                      array.add(Integer.parseInt(bufRead3.readLine()));
                              }

                      }
                     
                      bufRead3.close();

---

thats the reading in section to the array that is adjusted in the method i posted above. If you need other sections to be able to tell i'l post them

actually just declaring them as static made it work thanks for the help

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MichaelT

actually just declaring them as static made it work thanks for the help

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No -- That is the wrong solution and will bite you. You still need to post more code for us to give you the correct solution.

You just proved my point from this thread:

http://www.java-forums.org/new-java/...c-context.html

i read what you said in that post but can you explain the downsides to using static, im just curious

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MichaelT

i read what you said in that post but can you explain the downsides to using static, im just curious

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It can prevent your program's ability to be used in an object oriented fashion. Say if you want to use a collection of whatever object you're creating or to change the user interface and display this data in multiple windows, using static will mess this up as all instances of this object will share the same variable.

Again, there are likely better solutions for your problem, and if you can show us more about your problem and your code, then we can tell you more about the better solutions.