3D jagged Array

Question

Is there a way to access my three dimensional jagged array like this:

jaggedArray[1,2,3];

I got the following code snippets so far:

        int[][] jaggedArray = new int[3][]
        {
            new int[] { 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 },
            new int[] { -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1},
            new int[] { 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 }
        };

        int[,,] dontWork = new int[,,] // expect 7 everywhere in the last dimension
        {
            { { 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 } },
            { { -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1} },
            { { 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 } }
        };

Answer 1

As for the first question, you're trying to access the 3rd element, of the 2nd element of the 1st element of the jagged array:

jaggedArray[1][2][3]

As for the error, a 3D array expects the same number of elements in each element of a dimension. Let's say, for simplicity's sake, that you have a 2D jagged array, a rough representation of what that looks like in memory would be:

First row  -> 2,   3,  4,  5, 6, 7, 8
Second row -> -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1
Third row  -> 6,   7,  8,  9, 10

You can see that each row is seen as a different array, and can therefore differ in size. A multidimensional array, however, does not have this property. It needs to be filled completely:

Column    :  0    1   2   3   4  5  6
------------------------------------
First row :  2,   3,  4,  5,  6, 7, 8
Second row: -4,  -3, -2, -1,  0, 1 
Third row :  6,   7,  8,  9, 10

Your table is missing some cells, which makes no sense. You need to use the same number of elements per dimension.

Answer 2

You got the syntax for declaring 2D jagged array right, 3D jagged arrays are an extension of that. For example:

int[][][] jagged3d = new int[][][]
{
    new int[][] { new int[] { 111, 112 }, new int[] { 121, 122, 123 } },
    new int[][] { new int[] { 211 } }
}

But to access it, you need different syntax:

jagged3d[0][1][2]