How do I determine if an array is initialized in VB6?
I just thought of this one. Simple enough, no API calls needed. Any problems with it?
Public Function IsArrayInitialized(arr) As Boolean
Dim rv As Long
On Error Resume Next
rv = UBound(arr)
IsArrayInitialized = (Err.Number = 0)
End Function
Edit: I did discover a flaw with this related to the behavior of the Split function (actually I'd call it a flaw in the Split function). Take this example:
Dim arr() As String
arr = Split(vbNullString, ",")
Debug.Print UBound(arr)
What is the value of Ubound(arr) at this point? It's -1! So, passing this array to this IsArrayInitialized function would return true, but attempting to access arr(0) would cause a subscript out of range error.
Note: the code has been updated, the original version can be found in the revision history (not that it is useful to find it). The updated code does not depend on the undocumented
GetMem4
function and correctly handles arrays of all types.
Note for VBA users: This code is for VB6 which never got an x64 update. If you intend to use this code for VBA, see https://stackoverflow.com/a/32539884/11683 for the VBA version. You will only need to take the
CopyMemory
declaration and thepArrPtr
function, leaving the rest.
I use this:
Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" _
(ByRef Destination As Any, ByRef Source As Any, ByVal length As Long)
Private Const VT_BYREF As Long = &H4000&
' When declared in this way, the passed array is wrapped in a Variant/ByRef. It is not copied.
' Returns *SAFEARRAY, not **SAFEARRAY
Public Function pArrPtr(ByRef arr As Variant) As Long
'VarType lies to you, hiding important differences. Manual VarType here.
Dim vt As Integer
CopyMemory ByVal VarPtr(vt), ByVal VarPtr(arr), Len(vt)
If (vt And vbArray) <> vbArray Then
Err.Raise 5, , "Variant must contain an array"
End If
'see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms221627%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
If (vt And VT_BYREF) = VT_BYREF Then
'By-ref variant array. Contains **pparray at offset 8
CopyMemory ByVal VarPtr(pArrPtr), ByVal VarPtr(arr) + 8, Len(pArrPtr) 'pArrPtr = arr->pparray;
CopyMemory ByVal VarPtr(pArrPtr), ByVal pArrPtr, Len(pArrPtr) 'pArrPtr = *pArrPtr;
Else
'Non-by-ref variant array. Contains *parray at offset 8
CopyMemory ByVal VarPtr(pArrPtr), ByVal VarPtr(arr) + 8, Len(pArrPtr) 'pArrPtr = arr->parray;
End If
End Function
Public Function ArrayExists(ByRef arr As Variant) As Boolean
ArrayExists = pArrPtr(arr) <> 0
End Function
Usage:
? ArrayExists(someArray)
Your code seems to do the same (testing for SAFEARRAY** being NULL), but in a way which I would consider a compiler bug :)