Unity3D - how to use arrays with custom inspector code? - arrays

Question

I seem to be stuck in a catch 22 situation with the OnInspectorGUI method of Unity's UnityEditor class. I want to name array elements in the inspector for easy editing, currently I'm using, as per the documentation:
public override void OnInspectorGUI()
{
J_Character charScript = (J_Character)target;
charScript.aBaseStats[0] = EditorGUILayout.FloatField("Base Health", charScript.aBaseStats[0]);
}
In my J_Character script I initialise the aBaseStats array like so:
public float[] aBaseStats = new float[35];
The problem is that whenever I try to do anything in the editor (and thus OnInspectorGUI is called) I get an index out of range error pointing to the line
charScript.aBaseStats[0] = EditorGUILayout.FloatField("Base Health", charScript.aBaseStats[0]);
I'm guessing this is because my array is initialized on game start while the editor code is running all the time while developing.
How can I get round this situation?
Many thanks.

Answer 1

You have to initialize aBaseStats in an function that runs only once.
The code below is BAD:
public float[] aBaseStats = new float[35];
void Start(){
}
The code below is GOOD:
public float[] aBaseStats;
void Start(){
aBaseStats = new float[35];
}
Initialize it in an Editor callback function that runs once.
EDIT:
I don't know a Start callback function that will run before the OnInspectorGUI function(). The hack below should work.
public float[] aBaseStats;
bool initialized = false;
public override void OnInspectorGUI()
{
if (!initialized)
{
initialized = true;
aBaseStats = new float[35];
}
J_Character charScript = (J_Character)target;
charScript.aBaseStats[0] = EditorGUILayout.FloatField("Base Health",aBaseStats[0]);
}

Answer 2

As an addition to the answer by Programmer I would like to point you to the following:
http://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/ExecuteInEditMode.html
This seems to be exactly what you are looking for in terms of functionality. (it runs the method even when playmode is not active)
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
[ExecuteInEditMode]
public class ExampleClass : MonoBehaviour {
public Transform target;
void Update() {
if (target)
transform.LookAt(target);
}
}