I'm pretty new at this and have been doing some web work using ASP and
Visual Basic. Would like to be able to call a function and have it
return an array back to the caller. I've seen examples of this kind of
thing but haven't been able to make it work. BTW, the server I'm using
has VB 5 installed.

Thanks in advance,

1. Use the Variant data type. You can store an array in a Variant, and you
can return a Variant from a function. e.g.

Dim S As Variant
S = GetMyStrings()
Debug.Print S(0) & ", " & S(1) & ", " & S(2)

Function GetMyStrings() As Variant
Dim TestStrings(3) As String
TestStrings(0) = "first string"
TestStrings(1) = "second string"
TestStrings(2) = "third string"
GetMyStrings = TestStrings
End Function

2. Create an empty array in the calling code and pass it to the function by
value (ByVal keyword) instead of by reference. You can then modify that same
array (using ReDim and so forth) within the function. There's no need to use
a return value in this case.

Eq.

--

Function ReturnTheArray() As Variant
    ReturnTheArray = Array(1,2,3,4)
End Function

Have tried the following two programs :

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

<%
Option Explicit

Dim S As Variant
S = GetMyStrings()
Debug.Print S(0) & ", " & S(1) & ", " & S(2)

Function GetMyStrings() As Variant
        Dim TestStrings(3) As String
        TestStrings(0) = "first string"
        TestStrings(1) = "second string"
        TestStrings(2) = "third string"
        GetMyStrings = TestStrings
End Function

%>

at http://feedthebulldog.com/asp/passArray2.asp

gets the response :

Microsoft VBScript compilation error '800a0401'

Expected end of statement

/asp/passArray2.asp, line 4

Dim S As Variant
------^

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

<%
Option Explicit

Dim Nums(4),num
Nums = ReturnArray()
For Each num in Nums
        response.write "<br>Number eq " & num
Next

Function ReturnArray() As Variant
    ReturnArray = Array(1,2,3,4)
End Function

%>

at http://feedthebulldog.com/asp/passArray.asp

gets this response

Microsoft VBScript compilation error '800a0400'

Expected statement

/asp/passArray.asp, line 10

Function ReturnArray() As Variant
-----------------------^

So what am I doing wrong? Sorry I didn't try out the other
suggestions, but at this point feeling much more comfortable with copy
& paste type solutions.

Thanks,

Eq.

--

Function MyStrings() as String()

You don't declare the return type of functions in VBScript, they always
return a variant, plus ALL variables are Variants, so your function should
be

Function GetMyStrings()
Dim TestStrings(3)
TestStrings(0) = "first string"
TestStrings(1) = "second string"
TestStrings(2) = "third string"
GetMyStrings = TestStrings
End Function

regards

Ian Williams

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