FIX: Returning Empty Array from ActiveX EXE Fails with SP2 (177090)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 5.0
This article was previously published under Q177090

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. This bug has been fixed in Visual Basic 6.0.

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.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/18/2003
Keywords:kbbug kbfix KB177090
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.