Java - Can't call an Array from a different method

Question

I've been a long time lurker, and I've come across a part of my code I cannot figure out even with the help of stackexchange. I can't seem to call an Array from another method of mine. I have a bunch of questions and I would like to check if the answers are correct or not. If you could help me, that would be great. I've been stuck on it for a while, not many others can help me so I must turn here.

public static void Questions()
    {
        String [] Question = new String [5];
        Question[0] = "";
        Question[1] = ""; <---- these actually contain stuff in them, I just filtered them out.
        for (int i=0; i<=4; i++)
        {
            JOptionPane.showInputDialog(Question[i]);
        }           
    }
public static int CheckIfCorrect()
{
    int score = 0;

    if (Question[0].equals("a"))
    {           
        score++;
    }

The thing is, is that I can't call Question[0] and check if it's right or not. the score++ is initialised up above, and that works, up until the point where I have to check the answers to see if they are right. If you need more code just let me know. Thanks.

Answer 1

Question[] must be either:

1. declared outside any method, as a class static member (since both methods are static) or
2. be passed as a parameter to CheckIfCorrect .

Note that if you do option 1, then all instances of the class will share the same value and some concurrency errors could happen.

Also: According to universally accepted Java name conventions, Question[] should be called question[] , and Questions() should be named something like askQuestions() ( a verb in camelcase ). CheckIfCorrect should be called checkIfCorrect ( method and variable name begin with lowercase ).

Example 1

public class ThisClass {
    private static String[] question = new String [5]; //declaration
    public static void ask(){
        question[0] = "";
        question[1] = ""; <---- these actually contain stuff in them, I just filtered them out.
        for (int i=0; i<=4; i++){
            JOptionPane.showInputDialog(question[i]);
        }           
    }
    public static int check(){
        int score = 0;

        if (question[0].equals("a"))
        {           
            score++;
        }
    }
}

Example 2

public class ThisClass {    
    public static void ask(){
        String[] question = new String[5];
        question[0] = "";
        question[1] = ""; <---- these actually contain stuff in them, I just filtered them out.
        for (int i=0; i<=4; i++){
            JOptionPane.showInputDialog(question[i]);
        }           
    }

    public static int check(String[] param){
        int score = 0;    
        if (param[0].equals("a")) {           
            score++;
        }
    }
}