Expected constructor, destructor, or type conversion before '.' token

Can someone please help me understand why I keep getting the error "Expected constructor, destructor, or type conversion before '.' token"? I've seen many variants of this error on other posts but none really seem to help me. I've included the important code fragments below. Let me know if more is needed. Thank you.

Code:

Code:

/*
 Begin NRldlmain.cpp
*/

#include "nr3.h"
#include "sparse.h"
#include "NRldl.h"
//#include "interiorv1-N3-M3-K1.h"

int k=1;
doubleX_act[3]= {0.000000,0.957167,0.000000,};
int NV=3, N=NV;
int NC=3, M=NC;
NRsparseMatmy_A;
my_A.nrows = M;     ** Error **
my_A.ncols = N;     ** Error **
my_A.nvals = M*N;   ** Error **

/*
 Begin sparse.h
*/

structNRsparseMat//sparse matrix data structure for compressed column storage
{
Int nrows;                            //number of rows
Int ncols;                            //number of columns
Int nvals;                            //maximum number of nonzeros
VecInt col_ptr;                            //pointers to start of columns. length is ncols+1
VecInt row_ind;                            //row indices of nonzeros
VecDoub val;                            //array of nonzero values


    NRsparseMat();                            //default constructor
    NRsparseMat(Int m,Int n,Int nnvals);                //constructor. initializes vector to zero
VecDoub ax(constVecDoub &x) const;                //multiply A by a vector x[0…ncols-1]
VecDoub atx(constVecDoub &x) const;                //multiply A transpose by a vector x[0…nrows-1]
    NRsparseMat transpose() const;                    //form A transpose
};
NRsparseMat::NRsparseMat() : nrows(0),ncols(0),nvals(0),col_ptr(),
    row_ind(),val() {}
NRsparseMat::NRsparseMat(Int m,Int n,Int nnvals) : nrows(m),ncols(n),
    nvals(nnvals),col_ptr(n+1,0),row_ind(nnvals,0),val(nnvals,0.0) {}

It would help immensely if you could tell us exactly what line the compiler complains about.

P.S. Never mind, you can't assign values like that outside of a function

Code:

NRsparseMatmy_A;
my_A.nrows = M;     ** Error **
my_A.ncols = N;     ** Error **
my_A.nvals = M*N;   ** Error **

You're going to have to move the assignments into a function.

P.S. #2: Global variables should be avoided like the plague anyway (global constants are fine).

It is not possible to have assignment statements (eg my_A.nrows = M;) at file scope. Such statements need to be in the body of functions (they are executed when the program is run, not at compile time).

Thanks for the help. That fixed my issue.