XL2000: Compile Error Passing ParamArray

View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q213783

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Symptoms

If you are passing a ParamArray to another function, you may receive the following error message:

Compile error:
Invalid ParamArray use

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Cause

This error message may occur if both of the following conditions are true:

You are running your macro code in Microsoft Excel 2000.

-and-
You are passing the ParamArray to a ByRef argument in another function.

You receive the compile error because Visual Basic for Applications does not allow you to pass a ParamArray to a ByRef argument in another function.

NOTE: You will also receive this error message in Excel 97. If you run the same macro code in Excel versions 5.0 or 7.0, you will not receive the error message.

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Resolution

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. To work around this problem, add "ByVal" (without quotation marks) to the argument receiving the ParamArray in the function that is being called.

For example, the following macro code returns an error when you run the Test subroutine:

   Sub Test()
      x = myfun(1)
      MsgBox x
   End Sub

   Function myfun(y As Integer, ParamArray myarr() As Variant) As Integer
      myfun = otherfun(y, myarr)
   End Function

   Function otherfun(y As Integer, myarr As Variant) As Integer
      otherfun = y * 2
   End Function

If you change the otherfun function declaration to

   Function otherfun(y As Integer, ByVal myarr As Variant) As Integer

and run the "Test" subroutine, you get a message box with a value of 2 displayed in it.

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Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

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More information

When you have an argument in the argument list of a function and you do not specify either ByVal (by value) or ByRef (by reference), the argument will be ByRef. This is the default for all variables in Visual Basic for Applications.

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References

For more information about passing arguments, in the Visual Basic Editor, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type Passing Arguments Efficiently in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

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