Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 122878
Define Names dialog enhancements
Last modified: 2013-07-29 17:17:36 UTC
Hi, I am a heavy Define Names dialog user. I have a large number of inter-linked large spreadsheets. The Define Names dialog is fantastic in that I can enter hundreds of names columns, rows, cells, lookup table areas, and especially formulas. Entering the formulas once and referencing them by name in multiple spreadsheets has eliminated typo errors and significantly reduced the size of the spreadsheet files. Enhancement suggestions for the Define Names dialog: 1. Make the dialog window resizeable. The tiny text edit box for entering formals makes editing extremely difficult. 2. Allow copy/paste or duplicating names with their formulas. Many times a complex formula can have minor modifications, so duplicating would save time. 3. Allow changing a name and have it automatically changed where ever it is used. 4. Allow deleting multiple names in the names list. Today only one name can be selected and then pressing the Delete button. 5. Eliminate the need to close the Define Names dialog so that newly created names become active for referencing in formulas. 6. When spreadsheet B is linked to spreadsheet A and the changes were made in spreadsheet B's Define Names dialog (or a table size has changed), provide an option to have all the referenced names in spreadsheet A be automatically updated. Today they need to be either modified individually; or deleted one by one in Spreadsheet A, close spreadsheet A, and reopen spreadsheet A. This is a real pain when you have a large number of large spreadsheets! Thank you, Don
Thank you for these good suggestions.
Please see AOO discussion board at: http://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=63175 An excellent solution has been offered by "MrProgrammer": Re: Enhancement suggestion 7. Add Export and Import features. These would allow names to be placed in a range of cells, edited with Calc features/functions, and loaded back in as defined names. It would be very helpful for making mass changes, deletions, or definitions. The Insert > Names > Insert > Insert All button provides some of this feature, but it is export-only with no corresponding import, and it does not export some of the properties of interface XNamedRange (the internal structure which holds these objects). To allow for deletion via export/import, the import should remove all existing names and replace them with the supplied values. #7 could solve problems #1, #2, #4, #5, and #6. You might consider asking for this one feature instead of your set. The development team might be more inclined to spend scarce programming resources on a single solution which addresses multiple problems. If you create an issue, be sure to provide its number (and preferably a link) in this topic so people can vote for it. You can then tag this topic with the "Issue" icon. Mr. Programmer OpenOffice 3.2.0 Build 9483 on Mac OS X 10.6.8. The locale for any menus or Calc formulas in my posts is English (USA).