Comment check for empty array in vba macro

Microsoft 365 & Office Excel & VBA
1

I want to check for empty arrays. Google gave me varied solutions but nothing worked. Maybe I am not applying them correctly.

Function GetBoiler(ByVal sFile As String) As String
'Email Signature
    Dim fso As Object
    Dim ts As Object
    Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set ts = fso.GetFile(sFile).OpenAsTextStream(1, -2)
    GetBoiler = ts.ReadAll
    ts.Close
End Function

Dim FileNamesList As Variant, i As Integer
' activate the desired startfolder for the filesearch
FileNamesList = CreateFileList("*.*", False) ' Returns File names
' performs the filesearch, includes any subfolders
' present the result
' If there are Signatures then populate SigString
Range("A:A").ClearContents
For i = 1 To UBound(FileNamesList)
    Cells(i + 1, 1).Formula = FileNamesList(i)
Next i

SigString = FileNamesList(3)

If Dir(SigString) <> "" Then
    Signature = GetBoiler(SigString)
Else
    Signature = ""
End If

Here if FileNamesList array is empty, GetBoiler(SigString) should not get called at all. When FileNamesList array is empty, SigString is also empty and this calls GetBoiler() function with empty string. I get an error at line

Set ts = fso.GetFile(sFile).OpenAsTextStream(1, -2)

since sFile is empty. Any way to avoid that?

2

Go with a triple negative:

If (Not Not FileNamesList) <> 0 Then
    ' Array has been initialized, so you're good to go.
Else
    ' Array has NOT been initialized
End If

Or just:

If (Not FileNamesList) = -1 Then
    ' Array has NOT been initialized
Else
    ' Array has been initialized, so you're good to go.
End If

In VB, for whatever reason, Not myArray returns the SafeArray pointer. For uninitialized arrays, this returns -1. You can Not this to XOR it with -1, thus returning zero, if you prefer.

               (Not myArray)   (Not Not myArray)
Uninitialized       -1                 0
Initialized    -someBigNumber   someOtherBigNumber

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