AS3 Multidimensional Vector of Colors Themes - actionscript-3

Question

Goal: Programatically choose a random color theme using Vectors.
Old Strategy: Multidimensional Array. This was working fine.
Desired Strategy: I would like to switch this to a multidimensional Vector. It's for practice and mastery as much as anything else.
Error: 1120: Access of undefined property
I am attempting to use Vectors like this:
package {
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.utils.Timer;
import flash.events.*;
import classes.calculations.GeoMath;
import classes.graphics.*;
import classes.ui.*;
public class Document extends MovieClip {
var colorThemes:Vector.<Vector.<uint>> = new Vector.<Vector.<uint>>(3);
colorThemes[0] = new Vector.<uint>(5); // 1120: Access of undefined property colorThemes.
colorThemes[1] = new Vector.<uint>(5); // 1120: Access of undefined property colorThemes.
colorThemes[2] = new Vector.<uint>(5); // 1120: Access of undefined property colorThemes.
colorThemes[0][0] = 0xb26002; // 1120: Access of undefined property colorThemes.
colorThemes[0][1] = 0xff9720; // 1120: Access of undefined property colorThemes.
colorThemes[0][2] = 0xff8b07; // 1120: Access of undefined property colorThemes.
colorThemes[0][3] = 0x007eb2; // 1120: Access of undefined property colorThemes.
colorThemes[0][4] = 0x07b6ff; // 1120: Access of undefined property colorThemes.
colorThemes[1][0] = 0xdc45ff; // 1120: Access of undefined property colorThemes.
...
It would be great if I could do this with a Vector literal, but I won't crud up my question with my wrong attempt at that, too.
Then, I attempt to access the Vector from the same Document class which is inside of a function newAsteroid which is inside another function timerFunction, like this:
function timerFunction(e: TimerEvent): void {
// some more code
function newAsteroid(): void {
var idx2: int = Math.floor(Math.random() * colorThemes.length);
for (var i: int = 0; i <= 10000; i++) {
var idx: int = Math.floor(Math.random() * colorThemes[idx2].length);
asteroid = new Asteroid();
asteroid.x = (Math.random() * (stage.stageWidth - 200) + 100);
asteroid.y = (Math.random() * (stage.stageHeight - 100) + 50);
asteroid.graphics.lineStyle();
//var thiscolorVector: Array = [colorThemes[idx2][idx], colorThemes[idx2][idx]];
//var thisGradientArray: Array = [1, -20];
//var thisRatiosArray: Array = [0, 250];
//asteroid.graphics.beginGradientFill("radial", thiscolorVector, thisGradientArray, thisRatiosArray);
asteroid.graphics.beginFill(colorThemes[idx2][idx], dim);
asteroid.graphics.drawRect(-1, -1, 2, 2);
addChild(asteroid);
asteroids.push(asteroid);
}
}
...
Anyone see how I can get rid of these errors and make a multidimensional Vector of color themes?
NOTE:
I really don't think the problem lies in the way I've constructed the Vector. I just tried it in another .fla file and it worked perfectly. So the problem must be in how I'm trying to access it or where I'm trying to access it from?

Answer 1

You're writing code inside of a class, so you need to do it inside of some method. One option is following:
public class Document extends MovieClip {
var colorThemes:Vector.<Vector.<uint>> = initColorThemes();
public function initColorThemes():Vector.<Vector.<uint>> {
var output:Vector.<Vector.<uint>> = new Vector.<Vector.<uint>>(3);
output[0] = new Vector.<uint>(5);
output[1] = new Vector.<uint>(5);
output[2] = new Vector.<uint>(5);
output[0][0] = 0xb26002;
return output;
}

Answer 2

The property is declared in the main class (mine is public class Document extends MovieClip {) and then it has to be filled in inside of a function just as was demonstrated in the answer marked as "accepted". I thought I'd post this because Petr Hrehorovsky's example doesn't quite work for me for some reason. Finally it all clicked when I re-read this about 1120 errors.
package {
public class Document extends MovieClip {
// the property has to go here! But not the values!
var colorThemes:Vector.<Vector.<uint>> = new Vector.<Vector.<uint>>(3);
public function Document() {
// declare the "internal" vectors
colorThemes[0] = new Vector.<uint>(5); // now I can make the "internal" vectors without an 1120 error
colorThemes[1] = new Vector.<uint>(5); // because colorThemes has been declared
colorThemes[2] = new Vector.<uint>(5); // as a property of Document class.
colorThemes[0][0] = 0xb26002; // These also work now because colorThemes has been declared
colorThemes[0][1] = 0xff9720;
colorThemes[0][2] = 0xff8b07;
colorThemes[0][3] = 0x007eb2;
colorThemes[0][4] = 0x07b6ff;
colorThemes[1][0] = 0xdc45ff;
colorThemes[1][1] = 0x733fe8;
colorThemes[1][2] = 0x23a8e8;
colorThemes[1][3] = 0x26ffd9;
colorThemes[1][4] = 0x3359ff;
colorThemes[2][0] = 0x2eccc9;
colorThemes[2][1] = 0x3d9998;
colorThemes[2][2] = 0x00ff6b;
colorThemes[2][3] = 0xff3b6c;
colorThemes[2][4] = 0xcc14a0;