Help with getting array values from a file

Question

Hey ppl. Im doing a programming assignment just now and im completely stumped. I know i can ask my tutor but that will take a week (he is never in) so i was wondering if any of you could help. The basic idea is that you have to store numbers read from a file into an array. The catch is that you are not given the size of the array, you have to discover this by counting the numbers in the file. It terminates when -1 is discovered. This 'count' then states the size of the array.
I got this done ok and i thought I was on easy street after that. All i had to do was read the numbers into the array but alas its not working. The compiler gives it the ok, but when i run the program i get the following error
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.nullPointerException
at marks.main(marks.java:48)
By the way line 48 is as follows
numbers[index] = Integer.parseInt(infile.readLine().trim());
and here is the evil program!!!!!
//Paul Rodger ***MARKS*** 14/1/02
//A program which takes numbers from a file and enters them into an array.
//The stream of numbers is terminated when the number -1 is discovered
import java.io.*;
class marks
static BufferedReader keyboard = new
BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
static PrintWriter screen = new PrintWriter(System.out, true);
static public void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
FileReader file = new FileReader("numbers.txt");
BufferedReader infile = new BufferedReader(file);
//local Data
int COUNT;
double x;
char ans;
COUNT=0; // initialising the counter
//inputs values and calculates the sum
x = Double.parseDouble(infile.readLine().trim());
while (x>=0){
COUNT++;
x= Double.parseDouble(infile.readLine().trim());
// display the count
screen.println("the number of values entered was : " +COUNT );
// stores numbers in the array
int[] numbers = new int[COUNT];
for(int index=0 ; index < COUNT; index++)
numbers[index] = Integer.parseInt(infile.readLine().trim());
infile.close();
Any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

What was suggested is this -
prior to this line ...
int[] numbers = new int[COUNT];insert these lines ...
file = new FileReader("numbers.txt");
infile = new BufferedReader(file);An alternative solution, one which reads the file only once, is to do it this way ...
1. read the numbers and put them into a List (either ArrayList or Vector)
2. instantiate the array based on the size of List (list.size())
3. populate the array from the list