Andrea credo di aver fatto cosa mi avevi suggerito

codice:
int righe;
 int c;
 Object[][] value;
 .........
  try {
          Statement st = connection.createStatement();
          String query = "SELECT * FROM tabella";
          ResultSet rs = st.executeQuery(query);
          value = new Object[righe][2];
          while(rs.next()){
                   value[i][0]=rs.getString("nome");
                   value[i][1]=rs.getString("cognome");
                   i++;
                  }                          
        }catch(SQLException je){}  

        try {
              Statement st = connection.createStatement();
              rs2=st.executeQuery("SELECT COUNT (*) as c FROM tabella");
              rs2.next();
              righe=rs2.getInt("c");
             
             }catch(SQLException ve){}
Ma mi restituisce un errore quando lancio la classe

java.lang.NullPointerException
.....