java null pointer exception with static array

I got a null pointer exception when accessing a static array from a static member method. The exception is thrown when i call setData(x, y, z) from a thread. When I debugged it I found out data[0] is null when i try to write to it. I just don't understand how it can be null

public class dataContainer 
{
    private static final short nrOfDataElements = ids.total_ids;
    private static regularDataElement[] data = new regularDataElement[nrOfDataElements];


    public static synchronized void getData(final short i, regularDataElement r)
    {
        if ( (i >= 0) && (i < nrOfDataElements) )
            r.set(data[i].getTimestamp(), data[i].getValue());  
    }          

    public static synchronized void setData(short i, double ts, long val)
    {
        if ( (i >= 0) && (i < nrOfDataElements) )
            data[i].set(ts, val); //<<-------null pointer exception, debugging showed data[i] == null, (with i = 0 and nrOfDataElements = 12)
    }
}

and

public class regularDataElement 
{
    regularDataElement()
    {
        set(0, 0);
    }

    public void set(double _ts, long _val)
    {
        System.out.println(this.ts + " " + _ts + " " + this.val + " " + _val); System.out.flush();
        this.ts = _ts;
        this.val = _val;    
    }

    public double getTimestamp()
    {
        return this.ts;
    }

    public long getValue()
    {
        return this.val;
    }

    private double ts;
    private long val;

}

The statement private static regularDataElement[] data = new regularDataElement[nrOfDataElements]; initializes data with an array the size of nrOfDataElements. It does not initialize each element in this array. I.e., all the elements are null.

If you wish to initialize the elements, you should do so yourself. E.g., you could add a static block to handle this:

static regularDataElement[] data = new regularDataElement[nrOfDataElements];
static {
    for (int i = 0; i < nrOfDataElements; ++i) {
        data[i] = new regularDataElement();
    }
}