Question

In my application, i need to declare an Array based on the value stored by the user in the SharedPreference variable. The problem is that the array needs to be declared in a static block as the size of the array needs to be declared before the onCreate() is called in my class.

I have an ExpandableList in my Activity with parent array as the dates of the next seven days.

static int plannerSlotCount=7;
static public String[] parent = new String[plannerSlotCount];
static
{

    Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
    String strdate = null;
    SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy");

    int i;
    for(i=0;i<plannerSlotCount;i++)
    {

        if (cal != null) {
            strdate = sdf.format(cal.getTime());
            }
            parent[i] = strdate;
            cal.add(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY,24);
    }

}

If i don’t declare the array inside the static block, then I get an error at

public View getGroupView(int groupPosition, boolean isExpanded,
            View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        TextView textView = getGenericView();
        textView.setText(getGroup(groupPosition).toString());
        return textView;
    }

So,I have to declare the content of the array in the static block itself I guess.

The thing is that I want to change the number of days to display(it is currently set to 7). So, I thought of saving the number in a SharedPreference variable and accessing it to initialize the array.

The problem I am facing, is that

    SharedPreferences preferences = getSharedPreferences(Settings.PREF_SETTINGS_FILE_NAME, MODE_PRIVATE);
    final int slotCounter = preferences.getInt("slotCount", 7);

gives me an Error saying that

Cannot make a static reference to the non-static method getSharedPreferences(String, int) from the type ContextWrapper

Is there any possible way to achieve this ?

Answer 1

no, you can not. Since the

static {
}

blocks are called when you refers the first time the class. So, I think, before the onCreate si called. In order to accesss SharedPreference you need a context, and the context is valid after the onCreate . So you can not access SharedPreference in the static block