NAME: Defined Name (218h)

The NAME record describes a defined name in the workbook.

Record Data

Offset	Name	Size	Contents

4	grbit	2	Option flags
6	chKey	1	Keyboard shortcut
7	cch	1	Length of the name text
8	cce	2	Length of the name definition
10	ixals	2	Index to the sheet that contains this name, if the name is a local name (see text)
12	itab	2	This field is equal to ixals
14	cchCustMenu	1	Length of the custom menu text
15	cchDescription	1	Length of the description text
16	cchHelptopic	1	Length of the help topic text
17	cchStatustext	1	Length of the status bar text
18	rgch	var	Name text
var	rgce	var	Name definition (see text)
var	rgchCustMenu	var	Custom menu text
var	rgchDescr	var	Description text
var	rgchHelptopic	var	Help topic text
var	rgchStatustext	var	Status bar text

The grbit field contains the option flags listed in the following table.

Bits	Mask	Name	Contents

0	0001h	fHidden	= 1 if the name is hidden
1	0002h	fFunc	= 1 if the name is a function
2	0004h	fOB	= 1 if the name is a Visual Basic procedure
3	0008h	fProc	= 1 if the name is a function or command name on a macro sheet
4	0010h	fCalcExp	= 1 if the name contains a complex function
5	0020h	fBuiltin	= 1 if the name is a built-in name
11–6	0FC0h	fgrp	Function group index
12	1000h	fBig	= 1 if the name refers to binary data (see text)
15–13	C000h	(Reserved)

If the fBig bit in the grbit field is equal to 1, the NAME record contains a name attached to binary data. These names can be created only by calling the xlDefineBinaryName function from the Microsoft Excel C API. The first byte is the length of the name, which is followed by the name string. Following the name string is the data to which the name refers. The data can be up to 232 bytes long and can span multiple CONTINUE records.

The fCalcExp bit is set if the name definition contains a function that returns an array (for example, TREND, MINVERSE), contains a ROW or COLUMN function, or contains a user-defined function.

The chKey byte is significant only when the fProc bit is set in the grbit field. chKey is the keyboard shortcut for a command macro name. If the name is not a command macro name or has no keyboard shortcut, chKey is meaningless.

The cch field contains the length of the name text, and the rgch field contains the text itself. The cce field contains the length of the name definition, and the rgce field contains the definition itself. The location of rgce within the record depends on the length of the name text (rgch) field.

The name definition (rgce) is stored in the Microsoft Excel parsed format. For more information, see "Microsoft Excel Formulas" on page 444.

The NAME record stores two types of names: global names and local names. A global name is defined for an entire workbook, and a local name is defined on a single sheet. For example, MyName is a global name, whereas Sheet1!MyName is a local name. The ixals field in the NAME record will be nonzero for local names and will index the list of EXTERNSHEET records for the sheets in the workbook. The following field, itab, is equal to ixals.

All NAME records should appear together in a BIFF file. The order of NAME records in an existing BIFF file should not be changed. You can add new names to a file, but you should add them at the end of the NAME list (block of NAME records). Microsoft Excel saves the names to the BIFF file in alphabetic order, but this is not a requirement; Microsoft Excel will sort the name list, if necessary, when it loads a BIFF file.

Built-in Names

Microsoft Excel contains several built-in names — such as Criteria, Database, Auto_Open, and so on — for which the NAME records do not contain the actual name. Instead, cch always equals 1, and a single byte is used to identify the name as shown in the following table.

Built-in name	rgch

Consolidate_Area	00
Auto_Open	01
Auto_Close	02
Extract	03
Database	04
Criteria	05
Print_Area	06
Print_Titles	07
Recorder	08
Data_Form	09
Auto_Activate	0A
Auto_Deactivate	0B
Sheet_Title	0C