Check if a Range has a Name using Excel.Interop in C#

Question

I am currently working on Excel Addin Application using C# and Excel Interop. I am looping through a range of cells. I am trying to check if a cell is Named or not.

But when I am trying to add a if condition there is exception thrown if the range is not named. The exception is

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800A03EC): Exception from HRESULT: 0x800A03EC

This is kind of wierd.

if(r.Name == null)
{
    item.name="Not named";
} else 
{
    item.name = r.Name.Name;
}

The exception is thrown at if condition itself, why does the Range object does not return null if it is not named ?

Is there a way to check if the range has a Name or not. I do not seem to find any other solution.

Any help in this regards is appreciated.

Thanks

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 02 '13 at 19:58

The exception is thrown at if condition itself, why does the Range object does not return null if it is not named ?

That's just the way the Excel object model works, you'll get the same result if you try to access Range.Name from VBA code.

Your options would be:

Catch the exception, e.g.

public string GetRangeName(range As Range)
{
    try
    {
        var name = range.Name;
        if (name == null) return null; // Won't happen in the current version of Excel, but who knows for a future version
        return name.Name;
    }
    catch(COMException)
    {
        return null;
    }
}

or, iterate through the Names collection of the Worksheet and its Workbook, looking for one that references the cell you're interested in.

Thanks. I wasn't aware of this and was just thinking in usual programming ways. — ravi, Oct 02 '13 at 22:26

Check if a Range has a Name using Excel.Interop in C#

1 Answers1