Nested dimensions in macro array argument - vba

Question

I am providing a multi-dimensional array to a macro in Word. Each element is an array, and each array element has 2 values, the name of an image and a short description. The macro is:
For i = LBound(figures, 1) To UBound(figures, 1)
cgmImage = "C:\path\to\images\" & figures(i, 0) & ".jpeg"
Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture FileName:=cgmImage, LinkToFile:=False, SaveWithDocument:=True
Selection.TypeParagraph
With Selection
.Font.Size = 14
.Font.Bold = True
.Font.Underline = wdUnderlineSingle
.TypeText Text:=figures(i, 1)
End With
Next i
Sample input array would be:
[
['123','image 1'],
['456','image 2']
]
The macro works, inserting each image and its description. However I now want to add a third element, this element will itself be a 2D array representing a table. So input will look something like this:
[
[ '123','image 1', [['val1','val2'],['val3','val4']] ],
[ '456','image 2', [['val1','val2'],['val3','val4']] ]
]
In the macro I'll use this 3rd element to create a table. However, if I give input data like that into my original macro I now get a 'subscript out of range' error on this line:
cgmImage = "C:\path\to\images\" & figures(i, 0) & ".jpeg"
All I want to iterate is the first level of this whole data structure (e.g. for the sample data I provided above, 2 iterations). Even if I provide the 'dimension' attribute to LBound and UBound I still get the error, which shouldn't happen since the first element of the top level array elements are always just a string (the image file name). How can I achieve this? And will accessing the third element representing the table be along the lines of :figures(i,2,X,X)?
EDIT:
Array creation is in Python, just a standard list type. Calling of the macro is done using the mhammond pywin32 module here's a simplified version of the technique:
import win32com.client as win32
word = win32.gencache.EnsureDispatch("Word.Application")
template = word.Documents.Open("\path\to\file.docm")
word.Run("macroName",imagesArray)
Then I save and close it

Answer 1

if the inner most array is an array of array, then something like figures(i)(j)(k)(l) should be the way to go
you can use UBound(array,index) and LBound(array,index) functions to get the actual lower and upper array bounds of its index dimension
for example, along the lines of data you shown, you could consider the following code:
Option Explicit
Sub main()
Dim figures(1) As Variant
figures(0) = Array("123", "image 1", Array(Array("val1", "val2"), Array("val3", "val4"))) ' see how the innermost array is an array of arrays, too
figures(1) = Array("456", "image 2", Array(Array("val5", "val6"), Array("val7", "val8"))) ' see how the innermost array is an array of arrays, too
Dim i As Long, j As Long, k As Long, l As Long
For i = LBound(figures) To UBound(figures)
For j = LBound(figures(i)) To UBound(figures(i))
If IsArray(figures(i)(j)) Then
For k = LBound(figures(i)(j)) To UBound(figures(i)(j))
For l = LBound(figures(i)(j)(k)) To UBound(figures(i)(j)(k))
Debug.Print figures(i)(j)(k)(l)
Next
Next
Else
Debug.Print figures(i)(j)
End If
Next
Next
End Sub