An object reference is required to access a non-static member

Question

I m having this error come up and I m not sure why    I ve tried to look it up  people are saying to create an object of the class or create the methods as static    but I m unsure how   Here s my code below   public class SoundManager   MonoBehaviour    public List lt AudioSource gt  audioSounds   new List lt AudioSource gt     public double minTime   0 5   public static void playSound AudioClip sourceSound  Vector3 objectPosition  int volume  float audioPitch  int dopplerLevel        bool playsound   false      foreach  AudioSource sound in audioSounds     Loop through List with foreach               if  sourceSound name    sound name  amp  amp  sound time  lt   minTime                        playsound   true                       if playsound            AudioSource PlayClipAtPoint sourceSound  objectPosition

User · Answer

playSound is a static method meaning it exists when the program is loaded. audioSounds and minTime are SoundManager instance variable, meaning they will exist within an instance of SoundManager. You have not created an instance of SoundManager so audioSounds doesn't exist (or it does but you do not have a reference to a SoundManager object to see that).

To solve your problem you can either make audioSounds static:

public static List<AudioSource> audioSounds = new List<AudioSource>();
public static double minTime = 0.5;

so they will be created and may be referenced in the same way that PlaySound will be. Alternatively you can create an instance of SoundManager from within your method:

SoundManager soundManager = new SoundManager();
foreach (AudioSource sound in soundManager.audioSounds) // Loop through List with foreach
{
    if (sourceSound.name != sound.name && sound.time <= soundManager.minTime)
    {
        playsound = true;
    }
}

User · Answer

Make your audioSounds and minTime variables as static variables  as you are using them in a static method  playSound     Marking a method as static prevents the usage of non-static  instance  members in that method   To understand more   please read this SO QA   Static keyword in c

User · Answer

I m guessing you get the error on accessing audioSounds and minTime  right   The problem is you can t access instance members from static methods  What this means is that  a static method is a method that exists only once and can be used by all other objects  if its access modifier permits it    Instance members  on the other hand  are created for every instance of the object  So if you create ten instances  how would the runtime know out of all these instances  which audioSounds list it should access   Like others said  make your audioSounds and minTime static  or you could make your method an instance method  if your design permits it

User · Answer

playSound is a static method in your class  but you are referring to members like audioSounds or minTime which are not declared static so they would require a SoundManager sm   new SoundManager    to operate as sm audioSounds or sm minTime respectively  Solution   public static List lt AudioSource gt  audioSounds   new List lt AudioSource gt     public static double minTime   0 5

User · Answer

You should make your audioSounds and minTime members static  public static List lt AudioSource gt  audioSounds   new List lt AudioSource gt     public static double minTime   0 5   But I would consider using singleton objects instead of static members instead  public class SoundManager   MonoBehaviour        public List lt AudioSource gt  audioSounds   new List lt AudioSource gt         public double minTime   0 5       public static SoundManager Instance   get  private set         void Awake                 Instance   this             public void playSound AudioClip sourceSound  Vector3 objectPosition  int volume  float audioPitch  int dopplerLevel                    bool playsound   false          foreach  AudioSource sound in audioSounds     Loop through List with foreach                         if  sourceSound name    sound name  amp  amp  sound time  lt   minTime                                playsound   true                                   if playsound                AudioSource PlayClipAtPoint sourceSound  objectPosition                        Update from September 2020  Six years later  it is still one of my most upvoted answers on StackOverflow  so I feel obligated to add  singleton is a pattern that creates a lot of problems down the road  and personally  I consider it to be an anti-pattern  It can be accessed from anywhere  and using singletons for different game systems creates a spaghetti of invisible dependencies between different parts of your project  If you re just learning to program  using singletons is OK for now  But please  consider reading about Dependency Injection  Inversion of Control and other architectural patterns  At least file it under  quot stuff I will learn later quot   This may sound as an overkill when you first learn about them  but a proper architecture can become a life-saver on middle and big projects

[c#] An object reference is required to access a non-static member

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