String Array Expecting Declaration?

Question

I'm hitting the following issue in this simple code:

Public Class BookStoreDatabase

Public publicationArray(0 To 3) As String

publicationArray(0) = "Stories to Scare People With"
End Class

The bit "publicationArray(0) etc" is telling me that a declaration for "publicationArray" is expected. This seems like it shouldn't be happening.

Answer 1

You cannot assign a array element at Class level. If you need it to be assigned as soon as the BookStoreDatabase class itself is instantiated, you must use a constructor:

Public Class BookStoreDatabase

    Public Sub New()
        publicationArray(0) = "Stories to Scare People With"
    End Sub

    Public publicationArray(0 To 3) As String

End Class