KeyCode dictionary in Unity

Question

I found a strange problem while programming keyboard input in Unity (v5.3.5).

public class AvatarInputMapperUnityContext : MonoBehaviour {

    private AvatarController _avatarController;

    public KeyCode JumpKey = KeyCode.Space;
    public KeyCode LeftKey = KeyCode.A;
    public KeyCode RightKey = KeyCode.D;
    public KeyCode UpKey = KeyCode.W;
    public KeyCode DownKey = KeyCode.S;
    private Dictionary<KeyCode, WeaponTags> ShotKeys; 


    void Awake () {
        _avatarController = GetComponent<AvatarController>();
        ShotKeys.Add(KeyCode.I, WeaponTags.Pistol);
        ShotKeys.Add(KeyCode.O, WeaponTags.Shotgun);
    }

    void Update () {

        if (Input.GetKeyDown(JumpKey)){
            _avatarController.JumpSignal();
        }
    }
}

Now, when the ShotKeys.Add... lines are commented out everything works fine. But when I uncomment them, the program never reaches the _avatarController.JumpSignal() line, and none of the other directional keys (w,a,s,d) work. What can be the reason?

Answer 1

Init your Dictionary in your Awake first:

ShotKeys = new Dictionary<KeyCode, WeaponTags> ();