Get Components in children returns error

Hello

I have a script which gets components in children on Start but it seems to give an error. I definately have a child GameObject which has the relevant component attatched.

The game object is also set inactive at the start but i put true in the second parameter so it should be retrieving it... this is my code:

Code (CSharp):

1. private InteractHandler[] interactions;
2.  
3. void Start(){
4.      interactions = GetComponentsInChildren<InteractHandler>(true);
5.      print(interactions.Length); // returns 1
6. }

I then iterate through the array like this but i get an error on my for loop:

Code (CSharp):

1. void ToggleInteractions(bool isEmpty){
2.     for(int i = 0 ; i < interactions.Length; i++){ //ERROR
3.         //DO stuff
4.     }
5. }

The error is:

Code (CSharp):

1. NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

What is the reason this happens?

 

Unless I'm missing something obvious that should not happen unless the code executes in reverse order, that is Toggle Interactions before Start, assuming no other code interferes. Are you sure it's executing in the order you describe, because the error means interactions has not been assigned yet or has explicitly been set to null.

 

The toggle function calls from another script when collider sets off the ontriggerenter function. The character starts in the collider so it fires on trigger enter when the game starts, could this be why?

 

Easiest way to find out is to just Debug.Log("MethodName", this) in those methods, and they will log to the console in the order they're executed.
If the order is indeed wrong because of this, one way to fix it could be to move the array initialization to Awake instead of start, or just do a lazy initialization whenever you access it the first time.