Strings

Hi all!

I have an array of strings that I'm loading in from another array of strings.
When i run the run the program in debug mode i want to check for a string that had nothing loaded into it.
when I put my cursor over the array in question with nothing loaded into it it shows

Array(3) = "(a bunch of squares)"
what I want to know is what are thoes squares and how can I test for them?

That 'bunch of squares' are unprintable characters. One way to avoid them would be to clear your array before you use it; eg;

for dummy=1 to 100
MyArray(dummy)=""
next

Also - how are unprintable characters getting into that array in the first place..? Couldn't you do something where you are storing the orginal data to ensure only 'clean' data gets in?

you should be able to go
?asc(left(Array(3), 1))
and hit return in the debug window to find the ascii value.

The squares are characters that you are loading some how into the array. What you can do is pull open the immediate window. The icon is represented by a little window with a yellow exclamation point and then do the following
btw the window toolbar will appear at the bottom.
?array(3) <enter>

I just tried that with the immediate window and it says that ot was a 0.......strange
how it got in there the first place I don't know
the array that Im using is a dynamic array loaded in a previous form.
I guess I'll have to go back and find out why that is happening.
I mean there are suppose to be some blank entries in this array but a bunch of 0's mmmm

If i am not wrong is the memory that it is allocating for the array. That's why it displays a zero and when you place the mouse over it gives you unprintable characters. Do not quote me on this.

one other thing if I want to test for that, I tried

If array(3) = "00000" then
'do whatever
end if

and it didn't seem to work, is there a asc angle that I'm missing here?

Well it's not always going to be the same.

so maybe I'll just fix this problem from the originating point in the program

Thanks for your help!