Ken,

I happen to read this thread. Saw your reply. It solved my long term
querry of naming a shape. It is as simple as selecting the shape then
changing the name which appears near top left corner had toatally
evaded me thus far. Thank you very much.

A V Veerkar


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Hi A V,
Don't you love it when you stumble across the solution to long standing
problem.

Just a couple of things that need to be kept in mind when naming
shapes:

1. The name disappears when the shape is grouped with other shapes or,
if it was originally grouped when named, then the name disappears when
the group is ungrouped.

2. The name can be changed in the Name box, but can't be deleted.

Ken Johnson

2. The name can be changed in the Name box, but can't be deleted.

Is there something that can be deleted by using a name box? Is there any
type of name that can be deleted without assigning a different name?

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy

"Ken Johnson" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi A V,
Don't you love it when you stumble across the solution to long standing
problem.

Just a couple of things that need to be kept in mind when naming
shapes:

1. The name disappears when the shape is grouped with other shapes or,
if it was originally grouped when named, then the name disappears when
the group is ungrouped.

2. The name can be changed in the Name box, but can't be deleted.

Ken Johnson

Hi Tom,
I think I know what you mean?.....The names of shapes, ranges, or what
ever (can any other objects be named in the Name box?), cannot be
straight deleted using the Name box, they can only be given a new name.
Is this right?
I must admit I became a trifle confused when looking into the use of
the Name box versus InsertNameDefine... in relation to naming a
shape. Say I add a ractangular AutoShape to a sheet, select it then
InsertNameDefine... I see in the Refers to: box = "Rectangle 1". In
the Names in workbook: box I can type a suitable name, which must
follow the Names rules, so I can type (minus the speech marks)
"MyRectangle" but not "My Rectangle". Say I type (minus the speech
marks) "MyRectangle" then click AddOK. Then, in the Name box, with
that rectangle still selected, I still see "Rectangle 1". Furthermore,
I can click in the Name box and change it to (minus the speech marks)
"My Rectangle". Now, if I go InsertNameDefine... I see in the Refers
to: box ="My Rectangle". Also, If I use the Name box to name more than
one shape, I never see a list of the named shapes when I click on the
Name box's drop down arrow, just a list of the named ranges.
All that I can conclude from this is that the name I used in the Name
box ("My Rectangle" ie with the space) is not really a name, since...
1) it violates Excel's naming rule and...
2) when you click on the Name box's drop down arrow you don't see a
list of all the named shapes, only a list of named ranges.
So, if I'm correct, and it isn't a name then what should I call it?

Also, say I want to write code to manipulate a shape on Sheet1 that I
have "named" via the Name box "My Rectangle" and I want to give
it a completely different variable name, say "Oblong" then I would
write...

Dim Oblong as Shape
Set Oblong = Sheet1.Shapes("My Rectangle")
rest of code...

now how would I write code to set Oblong using the "real" name if I
had named the shape MyRectangle using InsertNameDefine...?

Ken Johnson

When you go do Insert=Name=Define with a shape selected, you do see

="Rectangle 1"
in the refers to range as an example.

Go ahead and assign a name that has that refers to.

No go back to the sheet and rename the shape something else using the name
box.

Now go back to insert name define and you will see that the name you
created, still refers to the text string "Rectangle 1". So there is no link
between the shape and the defined name other than it refers to a string that
contains the name of the shape at the time you created it.

the dropdown box only displays names of ranges that are hard coded in refers
to because the action of selecting the name selects the refered to range.
You can type in the name of a calculated range and hit enter and get the
same action. You can type in the name of the shape and hit enter and the
shape will be selected. Why it isn't offered in the dropdown, I can't
say. Insert=Names=Define is just for defining Names (name objects).

the name box is more equivalent to the Edit=Goto box although the name
box is more robust in terms of support for shapes.

Your final point/question is moot. You can't name a shape using
Insert=Name =Define. As I previously stated, you created a name that
refers to a string value.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy



"Ken Johnson" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi Tom,
I think I know what you mean?.....The names of shapes, ranges, or what
ever (can any other objects be named in the Name box?), cannot be
straight deleted using the Name box, they can only be given a new name.
Is this right?
I must admit I became a trifle confused when looking into the use of
the Name box versus InsertNameDefine... in relation to naming a
shape. Say I add a ractangular AutoShape to a sheet, select it then
InsertNameDefine... I see in the Refers to: box = "Rectangle 1". In
the Names in workbook: box I can type a suitable name, which must
follow the Names rules, so I can type (minus the speech marks)
"MyRectangle" but not "My Rectangle". Say I type (minus the speech
marks) "MyRectangle" then click AddOK. Then, in the Name box, with
that rectangle still selected, I still see "Rectangle 1". Furthermore,
I can click in the Name box and change it to (minus the speech marks)
"My Rectangle". Now, if I go InsertNameDefine... I see in the Refers
to: box ="My Rectangle". Also, If I use the Name box to name more than
one shape, I never see a list of the named shapes when I click on the
Name box's drop down arrow, just a list of the named ranges.
All that I can conclude from this is that the name I used in the Name
box ("My Rectangle" ie with the space) is not really a name, since...
1) it violates Excel's naming rule and...
2) when you click on the Name box's drop down arrow you don't see a
list of all the named shapes, only a list of named ranges.
So, if I'm correct, and it isn't a name then what should I call it?

Also, say I want to write code to manipulate a shape on Sheet1 that I
have "named" via the Name box "My Rectangle" and I want to give
it a completely different variable name, say "Oblong" then I would
write...

Dim Oblong as Shape
Set Oblong = Sheet1.Shapes("My Rectangle")
rest of code...

now how would I write code to set Oblong using the "real" name if I
had named the shape MyRectangle using InsertNameDefine...?

Ken Johnson

Thanks Tom,
Ken Johnson