Initializing arrays.

[CornedBee]

I have a class which contains a 2-d boolean array as private member. The class also contains a static array of 7 instances of the class, the only instances that will ever exist. And I have a static block to create that array:

class TetrisBlock
{
	private boolean[][] blockLook;

	private TetrisBlock()
	{
	}

	private static TetrisBlock[] blocks;

	static {
		blocks = new TetrisBlock[7];
		blocks[0] = new TetrisBlock();
		blocks[0].blockLook = { { true,  true,  true,  true},	// ####
								{false, false, false, false} };	// ----
		blocks[1] = new TetrisBlock();
		blocks[1].blockLook = { { true,  true,  true, false},	// ###-
								{ true, false, false, false} };	// #---
		blocks[2] = new TetrisBlock();
		blocks[2].blockLook = { { true, false, false, false},	// #---
								{ true,  true,  true, false} };	// ###-
		blocks[3] = new TetrisBlock();
		blocks[3].blockLook = { {false,  true,  true, false},	// -##-
								{ true,  true, false, false} };	// ##--
		blocks[4] = new TetrisBlock();
		blocks[4].blockLook = { { true,  true, false, false},	// ##--
								{false,  true,  true, false} };	// -##-
		blocks[5] = new TetrisBlock();
		blocks[5].blockLook = { {false,  true, false, false},	// -#--
								{ true,  true,  true, false} };	// ###-
		blocks[6] = new TetrisBlock();
		blocks[6].blockLook = { { true,  true, false, false},	// ##--
								{ true,  true, false, false} };	// ##--
	}

The compiler says this code is not correct. It gives me the following error:
TetrisBlock.java:17: illegal start of expression
blocks[0].blockLook = { { true, true, true, true}, // ####

It gives me the same error for all similar lines.

What am I doing wrong? Isn't this the way to directly initialize arrays?

Thanks in advance.

[Phenix]

I think you need to initialize while you declare, or else you need a set method to assign the initial values. This compiles:

class TetrisBlock
{
	public static boolean[][] get(int aBlockLook){
		return blockLook[aBlockLook];//aBlockLook between 0 and 6
	}

	private TetrisBlock(){
	}

	private static boolean[][][] blockLook = {
		{ { true,  true,  true,  true},	// ####
		  {false, false, false, false} },

		{ { true,  true,  true, false},	// ###-
		  { true, false, false, false} },

		{ { true, false, false, false},	// #---
		  { true,  true,  true, false} },

		{ {false,  true,  true, false},	// -##-
		  { true,  true, false, false} },

		{ { true,  true, false, false},	// ##--
		  {false,  true,  true, false} },

		{ {false,  true, false, false},	// -#--
		  { true,  true,  true, false} },

		{ { true,  true, false, false},	// ##--
		  { true,  true, false, false} }
	};
}

It should be addressable as blockLook[0] through blockLook[6] within the class. But you might want a 2D array getter like I added.

Merry Christ-mas

[CornedBee]

Strange, I was quite sure this should work by the language definition.

Thanks for your suggestions though. I'll remember it for the future, I have already solved my current problem simply by typing more

[Dillinger4]

I dont think the problem is with the actual initialization of the array. The way Phenix has pointed out to me would be the same as using a static{} initializer. When the class loads all initialization expressions and initializer blocks should be executed in the order that they were declared.

class A{
   public static void main(String[] args){
   B b = new B(); 
   B.printValues(); 

  }
 }

 class B{
 private static String[] s = new String[5]; 
 
 static {
    s[0] = "One"; 
    s[1] = "Two"; 
    s[2] = "Three"; 
    s[3] = "Four"; 
    s[4] = "Five"; 
   }
  public static void printValues(){
   for(int i = 0; i < s.length; i++){
    System.out.println(s[i]);
  }
 }
}