JTextField Array won't compile

Question

I'm attempting to create a large array of JTextField objects, and for some reason my code won't compile. I've played around with it for too long now, and I can't find any good reason for the compiler to be mad; here is my code with only a length 2 array:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.*;

public class SUDOKU_temp extends JApplet
{
    //declare fields

    public JTextField[] fields = new JTextField[2];
    fields[0] = new JTextField();
    fields[1] = new JTextField();

    //other stuff happens down here that the compiler is ok with
}

If I only run the code with a length 1 array I get the exact same errors, which are:

linux63:~demo$ ./compile
SUDOKU_temp.java:11: ']' expected
    fields[0] = new JTextField();
           ^
SUDOKU_temp.java:11: ';' expected
    fields[0] = new JTextField();
            ^
SUDOKU_temp.java:11: illegal start of type
    fields[0] = new JTextField();
              ^
SUDOKU_temp.java:11: <identifier> expected
    fields[0] = new JTextField();
               ^
SUDOKU_temp.java:11: ';' expected
    fields[0] = new JTextField();
                   ^
SUDOKU_temp.java:11: illegal start of type
    fields[0] = new JTextField();
                              ^
SUDOKU_temp.java:11: <identifier> expected
    fields[0] = new JTextField();
                               ^

I feel like this is a problem with the compiler, and not with the code, and any help about how to debug this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

Answer 1

You can't run code outside a method (unless it is a declaration). You need to either initialize them in some method or with an array literal.

Array literal:

public JTextField[] fields ={ new JTextField(),new JTextField()};

Within a method:

public JTextField[] fields=new JTextField[2];
public void method(){
    fields[0]=new JTextField();
    fields[1]=new JTextField();
}