DOCUMENT:Q177090  24-NOV-1997  [vbwin]
TITLE   :BUG: Returning Empty Array from ActiveX EXE Fails with SP2
PRODUCT :Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
PROD/VER:WINDOWS:5.0
OPER/SYS:WINDOWS
KEYWORDS:VBKBAX VBKBObj kberrmsg

======================================================================
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions
   for Windows, version 5.0
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SYMPTOMS
========

You receive an error when you use the Array function to return an empty
variant array from an out-of-process ActiveX Component (ActiveX EXE):

     Run-time error '5':
     Invalid Procedure Call or Argument

This error occurs only after the installation of Visual Studio 97 Service
Pack 2.

RESOLUTION
==========

There are several workarounds to this problem:

- Use an in-process ActiveX Component (ActiveX DLL).

   -or-

- Implement error handling in the client application.

   -or-

- Instead of returning an empty array, return Array(vbNull).
  Note that this will actually return an array that has one element.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products
listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this
bug and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Steps to Reproduce Behavior
---------------------------

1. Start a new ActiveX EXE project in Visual Basic 5.0 (with Visual Studio
   97 SP2 installed).

2. Click Project1 Properties on the Project menu, and change the name of
   the Project to "TestArrayPass."

3. Add the following code to Class1:

      Public Function testPass()
         testPass = Array()
      End Function

4. Run the project.

5. Start another instance of Visual Basic and select a new Standard EXE
   project. Form1 is created by default.

6. Click References on the Project menu, and check "TestArrayPass."

7. Place the following code in Form1:

      Private Sub Form_Load()
         Dim myObj As testArrayPass.Class1
         Dim result
         Set myObj = New testArrayPass.Class1
         result = myObj.testPass
      End Sub

8. Run the project and note that you receive the run-time error previously
   described.
======================================================================
Keywords          : VBKBAX VBKBObj kberrmsg
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbbug

=============================================================================

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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1997.