I have a named attribute in my Geometry Nodes that I need to use in my Shader. If I do something like this, putting the Attribute inside a group, can I somehow link the attribute text box to the input sockets? I essentially want to be able to change which attribute I’m using without having to reenter the group every time, but I’m not sure if that’s possible.
Oh, I didn’t know this existed… It still doesn’t really solve the problem because I want to be able to duplicate this group and enter different values, BUT that’s still good to know.
Not sure if it is possible, I tried to put a driver into the attributes name but it does not work.
You might have to leave the attribute outside of the group and enter the factor as an input.
Yeah I’m not sure if it is either. If it isn’t, it’s not a huge deal, it’s just slightly annoying.
I’m not sure if i understood the task correctly.. especially when reading this:
AFAIK the index value in the group can be different.. (?).. or do you mean different attribute names ??
Anyway.. i understood this this way: You have different named attributes and wanna choose one of them for shading.. (and do not have to memorize what index they would have).
This.. can be done while choosing the different named attributes as input on some other geometry nodes setup on top of the other one nameing the choosen input attribute for the shader…
As an example using the extrude node to get some different faces (top and side) and give them a named attriute (attrTop, attriSide) with some value (for simplicity already some color) an dthen chooseing these attribute by name in the “next stage” and use
To get the attribute connected from input to output “simply” add a Named Attribute node and delete it afterwards.. and toggle the input from value to attribute with the Input Attributer Toggle (those cross-like icon right to Attribute:)
Now you can use the “new” attribute name attrTheColor directly in the shader without reconnecting the other named attributes.
Support for strings was added, it should be in 5.3
The difficult bit is to enter a string output into the attribute node’s name field (that has no string input).
I do not think you can. (would be nice to have a string input)
Having strings in shader nodes is great but they need to work a bit more for them to be really useful.
Most of us are thinking/wishing about text in textures. 
“Print string to image” node? 
But string inputs for nodes with text fields would be great too.
From the link you posted:
There are not that many use-cases for strings in shader nodes yet, but the unification is nice and will probably become more useful over time.
They are in 5.3 but we will have to wait a bit for them to be more useful, the first example would be something like this thread, adding a string input to the attribute’s name feild.
Yea good point I overlooked this.
Oh! Okay, yeah, this is exactly what I was looking for, or rather, it answers my question. From what you’re saying, the thing I want to do here isn’t currently available, but might be coming soon, which is good. Thank you for your help!