How to check for empty array in vba macro [duplicate]

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?

As you are dealing with a string array, have you considered Join?

If Len(Join(FileNamesList)) > 0 Then

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

Source

If you test on an array function it'll work for all bounds:

Function IsVarArrayEmpty(anArray As Variant)

Dim i As Integer

On Error Resume Next
    i = UBound(anArray,1)
If Err.number = 0 Then
    IsVarArrayEmpty = False
Else
    IsVarArrayEmpty = True
End If

End Function

I see similar answers on here... but not mine...

This is how I am unfortunatley going to deal with it... I like the len(join(arr)) > 0 approach, but it wouldn't work if the array was an array of emptystrings...

Public Function arrayLength(arr As Variant) As Long
  On Error GoTo handler

  Dim lngLower As Long
  Dim lngUpper As Long

  lngLower = LBound(arr)
  lngUpper = UBound(arr)

  arrayLength = (lngUpper - lngLower) + 1
  Exit Function

handler:
  arrayLength = 0 'error occured.  must be zero length
End Function

When writing VBA there is this sentence in my head: "Could be so easy, but..."

Here is what I adopted it to:

Private Function IsArrayEmpty(arr As Variant)
  ' This function returns true if array is empty
  Dim l As Long

  On Error Resume Next
  l = Len(Join(arr))
  If l = 0 Then
    IsArrayEmpty = True
  Else
    IsArrayEmpty = False
  End If

  If Err.Number > 0 Then
      IsArrayEmpty = True
  End If

  On Error GoTo 0
End Function

Private Sub IsArrayEmptyTest()
  Dim a As Variant
  a = Array()
  Debug.Print "Array is Empty is " & IsArrayEmpty(a)
  If IsArrayEmpty(a) = False Then
    Debug.Print "  " & Join(a)
  End If
End Sub