VBA Variant Index out of range - excel

Question

I am new to VBA and I need to expand an existing Worksheet and keep its formatting. There are 7 sections with variable length (in rows) and a width of 14 columns that need to be completed. So what I am trying to do is the following:
find the lines where the sections start
select the data out of each section and save it into an array (i thought about this as an array of length 7 and each entry contains a 2-dim. array with the data in it)
select my new data and expand the existing array (created in the last step) with that new data
override the current sheet with my new created array
add formatting
I managed to do step 1 and am currently struggling at step 2: I need to create an array with variable length where I can insert the data.
My code so far:
' this should create the array with the 7 entries
' "myArray" contains the row-numbers where the sections start
Function GenerateSheetArray(sheet As Worksheet, myArray As Variant) As Variant
Dim finalArray As Variant
Dim myInt As Integer
'here each entry should be filled
For i = 0 To 6
myInt = myArray(i)
finalArray(i) = GenerateArrayPart(sheet, myInt)
Next
GenerateSheetArray = finalArray
End Function
'This should fill each entry with the data of corresponding section
Function GenerateArrayPart(sheet As Worksheet, headline As Integer) As Variant
Dim leftIndex As Integer, rightIndex As Integer, rowcount As Integer
Dim sheetArray() As Variant
rowcount = 0
leftIndex = 1
rightIndex = 14
i = headline + 1
Do While sheet.Cells(i, 1) <> ""
rowcount = rowcount + 1
i = i + 1
Loop
If (rowcount > 0) Then
For colIndex = leftIndex To rightIndex
For rowIndex = 1 To rowcount
Row = headline + rowIndex
sheetArray(rowIndex - 1, colIndex - 1) = sheet.Cells(Row, colIndex)
Next
Next
End If
GenerateArrayPart = sheetArray
End Function
Now my problem is, that VBA throws an error at this line:
'atm rowIndex and colIndex are 1, Row is 40
'I know that there is data in that cell
sheetArray(rowIndex - 1, colIndex - 1) = sheet.Cells(Row, colIndex)
VBA says:
Index out of range
in method GenerateArrayPart.
How can this happen? I thought that variant can be pretty much everything and also does not need bounds to be used?

Answer 1

You are not having any value in the array. Thus, the array is only declared and not dimensionized.
Try this:
Dim finalArray As Variant
Redim finalArray(6)
Now, the array would have 7 values inside. From 0 to 6. The same error happens in the Function GenerateArrayPart, with the array sheetArray. There you need to declare the array as a multidimensional array. E.g. Redim sheetArray (N, M).
To see some small working sample, take a look at the code below:
Sub TestMe()
Dim finalArr As Variant
ReDim finalArr(6)
Dim i As Long
For i = LBound(finalArr) To UBound(finalArr)
finalArr = GenerateArrPart(i)
Next i
For i = LBound(finalArr) To UBound(finalArr)
Debug.Print i; finalArr(i, i)
Next i
End Sub
Public Function GenerateArrPart(a As Long) As Variant
Dim i As Long
Dim arrReturn As Variant
ReDim arrReturn(a + 1, a + 1)
For i = LBound(arrReturn) To UBound(arrReturn)
arrReturn(i, i) = a * i
Next i
GenerateArrPart = arrReturn
End Function
This is the output:
0 0
1 6
2 12
3 18
4 24
5 30
6 36
7 42