I cannot pull values from an array in a different class

The printout of the array lifegrid2 just gives all zeros. I tested the lifegrid array in MyPanel and that is populating, but the values are pulling through as zeros. I checked by putting some values in lifegrid2 and they are being wiped, so it is pulling through from MyPanel, but only zeros. There are no errors being reported.

I have made a small test program with a 2d array which does pull values through.

import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import java.awt.*; 
import java.awt.event.*; 
public class SwingPaintDemo3 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI(); 
}
});
}
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
JFrame f = new JFrame("Swing Paint Demo");
f.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(1280,800));
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); 
f.add(new MyPanel());
f.pack();
f.setVisible(true);
JPanel subPanel = new JPanel();
JButton start = new JButton("START");
subPanel.add(start);
start.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,50));
start.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
@Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae1) {
System.out.println("START");
int [][][] lifegrid2 = new int [12][12][2];
int temp;
for (int i=0; i<12; i++) {
for (int j=0; j<12; j++) {
**MyPanel obj = new MyPanel();
temp = obj.lifegrid [i][j][0];
lifegrid2 [i][j][0] = temp;**
if (j<11) 
{System.out.print(lifegrid2 [j] [i] [0]);}
else 
{System.out.println(lifegrid2 [j] [i] [0]);}}}
}	
});
f.add(subPanel, BorderLayout.EAST);
} 
}
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;

import javax.swing.JPanel;

class MyPanel extends JPanel {
public int [][][] lifegrid = new int [12][12][2];
private int squareX = 1280;
private int squareY = 800;
private int gridX, gridY ;
public MyPanel() {
addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
squareX = e.getX();
squareY = e.getY();
if ((squareX>50 & squareX <550) & (squareY>50 & squareY <550) ){
gridX =(squareX-50)/50+1;
gridY =(squareY-50)/50+1;
squareX = (squareX -50)/50 * 50 + 50;
squareY = (squareY -50)/50 * 50 + 50;
System.out.println(gridX + " " + gridY);
lifegrid [gridX] [gridY] [0] = 1;
repaint(squareX,squareY,50,50);}
else {
}
}
});
}
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);       
g.drawString("This is my custom Panel!",10,20);
g.setColor(Color.RED);
g.fillRect(squareX,squareY,48,48);
g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
g.drawRect(squareX,squareY,48,48);
}  
}

> I have made a small test program with a 2d array

int [][][] lifegrid2 = new int [12][12][2];

That is a 3D array.

A 2D array is defined as:

int [][] lifegrid2 = new int [12][12];

The logic to initialize the array belongs in the constructor of your class:

MyPanel()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 12; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < 12; j++) {
lifegrid [i][j] = 0)
}
}
}

Then your paintComponent() method needs to iterate through the 2D grid and only paint the grids that have a value of 1.

@Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g)
{
super.paintComponent(g);
for (int i = 0; i < 12; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < 12; j++) {
if (lifegrid[i][j] = 1)
// paint the grid
}
}
}
}

Edit:

As best as I can tell you are trying to create a grid based game. When you click on a cell in the grid the cell turns red. The are two common ways to approach this:

1. Use components. In this approach you have a parent panel using a GridLayout and you add a child panel to each cell in the grid. You would also add your MouseListener to each child panel. When you click on the child panel you change the background of the panel to red.

2. Do custom painting. In this approach you have a single JPanel. This class keep a 2D Array for the "state" of each cell in the grid. You add a single MouseListener to the panel. When you click on the panel you determine which cell was clicked and then you update the state of that cell. In the paintComponent() method you iterate through the 2D Array and paint each cell where that state has changed.

Your approach seems to be some kind of hybrid between the two and is not working.