How does Excel references a cell?

[Vitaly]

Hi all,

I'm using a windows forms control that is very similar to Excel, but it's
written completely in managed code.

What I need to do is to reference a cell from outside the control. I need to
uniquely identify a cell. I see one approach now - using named ranges. So the
reference to a cell will be composed of a workbook file name and a named
cell. But if a user modify "the name of the named cell" the approach will not
work.

So, I'm wondering how does Excel references a cells, keeping in mind, that
the referenced cell can still be moved and the link should not be broken.

Thanks,
Vitaly

 

[Peter T]

Programmatically you can hide the name, that would prevent most users from
seeing and changing it. Another way would be with a simple cell formula on
an xlVeryHidden sheet, eg =Sheet1!A13. I can't think of any other way to
"track" a cell.

Note with either method, if the row or column containing the referenced cell
is deleted you will get a #REF! error

Regards,
Peter T