Creating Task/Milestone Curtains in OnePager in Version 8.0

Introduction to Task/Milestone Curtains in OnePager

Illustrations used in this article are from OnePager Pro using data from Microsoft Project but the features, function, controls, and manual edits apply equally to other OnePager editions that import from data sources like Microsoft Excel, Smartsheet, Oracle Primavera P6, Microsoft Planner, Planisware Enterprise, Asana, and Wrike.

This article describes OnePager’s Task/Milestone Curtains feature.

Overview

Task/Milestone Curtains displayed in the Chart highlight timespans bounded by the Start and Finish dates of selected task bar/milestone symbols in a project that are relevant to a schedule conversation such as periods with critical schedule constraints, vacation periods, or project reviews. Strategically using Task/Milestone Curtains in the Chart is a way to focus on those timespans with your audience.

Inserting Task/Milestone Curtains into the Chart

Task/Milestone Curtains are inserted in an existing Chart by right-clicking on a selected task bar/milestone symbol and then clicking the Task/Milestone Curtain command in the right-click context menu shown below:

Clicking the Task/Milestone Curtain command has the result shown in the illustration below:

A curtain is placed from the time axis to the bottom of the Chart with the same color as the Foreground Color of the task bar/milestone symbol shown with 80 percent (%) transparency by default.

Using the Task/Milestone Curtains in the Chart

Task/Milestone Curtains correspond to timespans for task bars/milestone symbols in the Chart. Other periods of interest can also be inserted into the Chart and edited from the OnePager Pro, OnePager Express, or OnePager Bundle.

References to the specific articles describing the capabilities and features for creating, managing, and editing curtain graphics are provided in the table below:

Creating and Managing Curtains
Creating, Editing, and Managing Time Axis Daily Curtains
Managing Inserted Curtains
Managing Working Hours and Non-Working Hours

Interaction Between Curtains, Time Cursor Shading, and Task/Milestone Curtains

The Inserted Curtains feature, Time Cursor Shading feature, and the Task/Milestone Curtains feature can introduce Color into the Chart that may overlap other curtain graphs that you've previously or plan to Insert. Depending on the properties you've established for these curtains, some of your inserted Curtain graphs may be hidden. If this turns out to be the case, you can adjust the Transparency controls for Time Cursor Shading and/or Task/Milestone Curtain or the Transparency controls for the other curtains to achieve the desired visual result. Curtain controls also support moving the Curtains to different Z-Ordering levels using their right-click context menu Order commands

For more information on Time Cursor Shading Curtains, please see the article at:

Managing the Time Cursor

About Task/Milestone Curtains

A Task/Milestone Curtain is a vertical colored strip in the Chart that highlights a selected task bar/milestone symbol by default from the task bar/milestone symbol’s Start Date through its Finish Date. For milestone symbols, given that they span a single day, the timespan of a default Task/Milestone Curtain is fourteen (14) days, seven (7) days on either side of the milestone symbol as illustrated for both task bars and milestone symbols below:

Task/Milestone Curtains can be added to the Chart, edited, ordered, deleted and propagated to all snapshots as necessary. A Task/Milestone Curtain right-click context menu is provided for accessing editing controls for individual Task/Milestone Curtains and for managing the appearance of Task/Milestone Curtains in some or all snapshots. The full Task/Milestone Curtain right-click context menu with all the commands is shown below for a multi-snapshot Chart:

Adding a Task/Milestone Curtain to a Selected Task Bar or Milestone Symbol

All OnePager editions supports the new Task/Milestone Curtain feature whereby you can create a curtain on a task bar/milestone symbol by using a single command from the right-click context menu. The new command is shown in the illustration below:

Clicking the Task/Milestone Curtain command creates a basic curtain extending from the selected task bar’s Start Date to Finish Date with the same Color as the selected task bar/milestone symbol but with 80% Transparency as shown below:

Once created, the Task/Milestone Curtain is selectable with a left-click in the area of the curtain as shown here:

When a milestone symbol is selected and a Task/Milestone Curtain is created for the selected milestone symbol, the Chart looks like this:

Since milestone symbols, by definition, have a one day (1) duration, to make the Task/Milestone Curtain visible, the default timespan for a selected milestone symbol’s Task/Milestone Curtain is fourteen (14) days which generally corresponds to the size of most OnePager milestone symbols. For clarity, the Task/Milestone Curtain spans seven (7) days before and after the milestone symbol’s Start Date and Finish Date.

You have the capability to edit the default settings in the Task/Milestone Curtain Properties form where the default settings for a milestone symbol are shown below:

As a further example, suppose the days before start date and days after finish date values for the milestone symbol in the illustration above are reduced to one (1) day each. Doing so creates a Chart that looks like this:

Reducing the days before start date and days after finish date values one more integer value essentially hides the Task/Milestone Curtain for the selected milestone symbol.

Editing Task/Milestone Curtains in the Chart

The Task/Milestone Curtain’s Right-Click Context Menu

Once a Task/Milestone Curtain is added to the Chart, it may be selected with a right-click which assesses its right-click context menu as shown here:

There are three commands in the Task/Milestone Curtain’s left-click context menu for a single snapshot Chart shown above:

1) Delete: The Delete command works exactly like Delete commands for other objects in OnePager (e.g., Images, Task Links, Time-Axis Curtains, Comment Boxes, and Free Boxes). When the Chart consists of one snapshot, the Delete command, when clicked, deletes the Task/Milestone Curtain from only the single snapshot. In multi-snapshot Charts, the Delete command gives you the option to Delete the Task/Milestone Curtain from the current snapshot or all snapshots.

2) Order: The Order command works exactly the same as other Order commands available in OnePager.

3) Properties…: Clicking the Properties… command access the Task/Milestone Curtain Properties form shown below:

When a Chart consists of multiple snapshots, the task bar/milestone symbol right-click context menu has an added command as shown below:

Clicking the Put at all snapshots command tells OnePager to place a Task/Milestone Curtain for the selected task bar/milestone symbol, if it appears in any additional snapshots, in the Chart. If the task bar/milestone symbol does not appear in a snapshot, neither does its associated Task/Milestone Curtain.

Using the Task/Milestone Curtain Properties Form

You have the capability to modify a Task/Milestone Curtain after it is created in the Chart in either of two ways:

1) Accessing the Task/Milestone Curtain Properties form by right-clicking in the Task/Milestone Curtain area to access the right-click context menu and then clicking the Properties… button.

2) After the Task/Milestone Curtain for a selected task bar/milestone symbol is created, you can right-click on the task bar or milestone symbol to access the task bar’s right-click context menu. With the right-click context menu accessed, again click the Task/Milestone Curtain command and the Task/Milestone Curtain Properties form is accessed for editing. Actually, the first method is the easiest.

After accessing the Task/Milestone Curtain Properties form, the form looks like this for a selected task bar:

Task/Milestone Curtain Color and Transparency

As shown in the illustration above, there are two control groups provided in the form. The top control group provides control over the Fill color and Transparency of the Task/Milestone Curtain created for the selected task bar/milestone symbol. By default, the Foreground Fill Color selected by OnePager for the Task/Milestone Curtain is the Foreground Color of the selected task bar/milestone symbol in this case and the default Transparency is set to 80 percent, a value you can also change. After the initial Fill Color selection for the Task/Milestone Curtain, based on the selected task bar/milestone symbol’s Foreground Fill Color, future edits of the Fill Color for the Task/Milestone Curtain are independent of the Foreground Color edits for the selected task bar/milestone symbol and vice-versa.

Clicking the Fill color dropdown arrow accesses the Standard OnePager Color Chooser form used throughout OnePager. You can use the up and down arrows in the Transparency control to change the Transparency percent value of the selected Task/Milestone Curtain.

Shading Extent Controls-Begin and End Shading

The second control group provides controls over the timespan extent of the Task/Milestone Curtain where you have two options for where to Begin the Task/Milestone Curtain with respect to the selected task bar/milestone symbol and where End the Task/Milestone Curtain:

1) Setting Days Before Start Date and Days After Finish Date: The default setting for this control group is shown in the illustration above where the radio buttons are set for Begin Shading and End Shading at zero (0) days before start date and days after finish date for a task bar. For a milestone symbol, the two default settings are seven (7) days. The result of these default settings as shown in the Chart illustrations above.

2) Setting at Left Edge and at Right Edge of Chart: As an alternative, you can extend the selected Task/Milestone Curtain from the selected task bar/milestone symbol’s Finish Date to the left edge of the Chat or from the selected task bar/milestone symbol’s Start Date to the right edge of the Chart as shown in the two illustrations below:

Selected Task/Milestone Curtain Extended to Left Edge of the Chart

Selected Task/Milestone Curtain Extended to Right Edge of the Chart

As shown above, the Task/Milestone Curtain always spans the Start/Finish Dates of the selected task bar/milestone symbol.

Shading Extent Controls-Days Before Start and Days After Finish

The controls for Days Before Start and Days After Finish with the settings defaulted to zero (0) are illustrated above. You can set any number of days using the up and down arrows in the control to timespan extent of the Task/Milestone Curtain to the left (days before start date) or to the right (days after finish date) up to the Start and Finish Dates of the Chart. The controls only process positive integers. Negative numbers are changed to zero (0). The Task/Milestone Curtain for a selected task bar/milestone symbol won’t extend beyond the Chart’s Start Date or its Finish Date no matter what the values placed in the days before start date or days after finish date controls.

Here’s an example for a Task/Milestone Curtain established on a selected task bar/milestone symbol extending fourteen (14) days before the task bar’s Start Date and extending fourteen (14) days after the task bar’s Finish Date:

Deleting Task/Milestone Curtains

Deleting Task/Milestone Curtains is similar to deleting other shapes in the Chart such as a Comment Boxes. First, right-click in the Task/Milestone Curtain area to access the Task/Milestone Curtain’s right-click context menu and click the Delete command in the context menu shown below:

The illustration above shows the Delete command in the Task/Milestone Curtain’s right-click context menu where the Chart contains only one snapshot. The Delete command for a Task/Milestone Curtain’s right-click context menu is altered when the Chart contains two or more snapshots as in the illustration shown here:

The illustration above shows the Delete sub-commands which appears in the case where the Chart has two or more snapshots. When the Delete command is clicked in a Chart with only one snapshot no Delete sub-commands are shown.

Using the sub-command Delete From this snapshot this command deletes the Task/Milestone Curtain from the current displayed snapshot. Task/Milestone Curtains that remain in other snapshots are treated as a single entity with respect to their properties. The sub-command Delete From all snapshots deletes all Task/Milestone Curtains from all snapshots.

Z-Ordering Task/Milestone Curtains

Task/Milestone Curtains can be Z-Ordered in the Chart from front to back in the same way that Free boxes can be Z-Ordered using the same right-click context menu command and sub-commands.

For more information on Z-Ordering Free boxes in the Chart, please see this section at the article at:

Ordering Free Boxes

When the Z-Order’s sub-commands are used, the results with respect to the Z-Order Level positioning of the Task/Milestone Curtain are shown in all snapshots where the Task/Milestone Curtain is showing.

Putting Curtains in Some Snapshots

When a task bar/milestone symbol’s right-click context menu is used to add a Task/Milestone Curtain to a multi-snapshot Chart, the Task/Milestone Curtain is added in all snapshots.

Displaying Task/Milestone Curtains in Some Snapshots

There is no Attach to all snapshots checkbox in the Task/Milestone Curtain Properties form as there is in the Create or edit comment box form because all added Task/Milestone Curtains are placed in all snapshots by default. The recommend way to display a Task/Milestone Curtains in one or a select set of snapshots is to use this two-step procedure:

1) First create the Task/Milestone Curtain with its desired properties making the Task/Milestone Curtain appear in all snapshots as the default result.

2) Then, going to each snapshot where you do not want the Task/Milestone Curtain to appear, use the Task/Milestone Curtain’s right-click context menu's Delete command to individually delete the undesired Task/Milestone Curtain from that snapshot where the Task/Milestone Curtain should not be showing.

Repeat this process for each snapshot where the Task/Milestone Curtain should not appear.

Reinstating Task/Milestone Curtains in the Future

Subsequent project demands can require that you later need to put the Task/Milestone Curtain back in all snapshot or into a specific snapshot. To do this, just follow these steps.

1) To put a Task/Milestone Curtain in all snapshots, use the Put at all snapshots command found in the Task/Milestone Curtain’s right-click context menu for the existing Task/Milestone Curtain in the snapshot where it is showing as done below:

2) After clicking the Put at all snapshots command, the selected Task/Milestone Curtain is shown in all snapshots.

3) By using the first procedure above, you can now selectively delete Task/Milestone Curtains from snapshots where the selected Task/Milestone Curtains are not desired.

Editing Task/Milestone Curtains in Snapshots

Whenever you edit the properties of a Task/Milestone Curtain in any snapshot, the edited Task/Milestone Curtain is updated with these edits in all snapshots where the Task/Milestone Curtain appears. This being the case, a Task/Milestone Curtain is never considered as a maverick because once its properties are set or edited it appears the same in all snapshots where it is showing.

Task/Milestone Curtains On Virtual Summary Tasks (VST)

Making a Virtual Summary Task with Task/Milestone Curtains

Task/Milestone Curtains can be created on Virtual Summary Tasks (VST) using the steps associated with making and unmaking virtual summary tasks as shown in the illustrations that follow:

1) Select the task bars/milestone symbols to become part of a single VST, right-click on the task bar/milestone symbol to access the right-click context menu, and click the Make into virtual summary task command:

2) After creating the virtual summary task, the Chart looks like this:

3) After creating the virtual summary task, right-click on the VST to access the right-click context menu and click the Task/Milestone Curtain command to create a Task/Milestone Curtain on the selected VST:

4) The resulting Task/Milestone Curtain created for the selected virtual summary task looks like this:

Unmaking a Virtual Summary Task with Task/Milestone Curtains

Unmaking a virtual summary task with a created Task/Milestone Curtain unmakes the virtual summary task and restores the original task bar/milestone symbols to their original configuration. However, the created Task/Milestone Curtain is retained with the start/finish dates associated with the created virtual summary task as illustrated below.

1) To unmake the virtual summary task right-click to select the VST and access the right-click context menu and click the Unmake virtual summary task command as shown here:

2) Clicking the Unmake virtual summary task, containing a Task/Milestone Curtain, restores the members of the VST to their to their original configuration and retains the Task/Milestone Curtain with the start/finish dates of the previously selected VST as shown below:

After unmaking the virtual summary task you have the option to retain the Task/Milestone Curtain, change its properties, or delete it from the Chart.

For more in depth information on Virtual Summary Tasks, please see the article listed in the table below:

Creating and Managing Virtual Summary Tasks

Task/Milestone Curtains Created on Absorbed Tasks

Creating and managing Task/Milestone Curtains on Absorbed task bars is essentially the same as described in the previous sub-section.

For more detailed information on Absorbed tasks, please see the article listed in the table below:

Absorbing one task into another

Multiple and Overlapping Task/Milestone Curtains in the Chart

Task/Milestone Curtains are applied to a task bar/milestone symbol in the Chart from its Start Date to its Finish Date. When there are task bars/milestone symbols in the Chart with overlapping Start/Finish Dates there are situations where the application of Task/Milestone Curtains overlap in the Chart as shown in the illustration below:

In the illustration above the Task/Milestone Curtains are different colors which make it a bit easier to use the mouse left-click to select the Task/Milestone Curtain or the mouse right-click to access the Task/Milestone Curtain right-click context menu. Accessing the desired Task/Milestone Curtain right-click context menu allows you to Delete the selected Task/Milestone Curtain, Order it in the Chart, or access it's Task/Milestone Properties form to make edits.

To highlight a Task/Milestone Curtain to distinguish it in this overlap environment, you have the option to change it's Order position, it's color, or it's transparency value. This may be more difficult when all Task/Milestone Curtains in the Chart are the same color and transparency as shown in the illustration here:

OnePager keeps track of all Curtain types and the list can be found in the Chart Properties form's Time Axis tab's Format sub-tab's Curtains and Timespans Grid covered in the next sub-section.

Task/Milestone Curtain Properties When Task Bar/Milestone Symbol Representations Change

With all task bar/milestone symbols in the Chart you always have the option to change their representation. For example, a task bar can be represented by a Milestone at start or a Milestone at finish. If a task bar with a Task/Milestone Curtain associated with it has its representation changed to a Milestone at start the associated Task/Milestone Curtain's days before start date and days after finish date values are changed from zero (0) to seven (7). This convention was discussed earlier and is done to make sure the Task/Milestone Curtain remains visible on the new milestone symbol.

There may be a requirement to change the representation of this newly created milestone symbol now associated with a Task/Milestone Curtain back to a task bar representation. When you make the representation change, OnePager retains the value of seven (7) for the days before start date and the days after finish date. This is done to give you the option to change these two values to specifically meet the needs of your schedule conversation by accessing the Task/Milestone Curtain's right-click context menu, clicking the Properties... command, and making the change in the Task/Milestone Curtain Properties form.

As an example, the three illustrations below show (1) the addition of a Task/Milestone Curtain to a task bar, (2) the change in representation of the selected task bar to a milestone symbol with a Task/Milestone Curtain, and (3) the change in representation of the milestone symbol back to a task bar with its associated Task/Milestone Curtain:

(1) Task Bar with Associated Task/Milestone Curtain

(2) Task Bar Representation Changed to Milestone Symbol

(3) Milestone Symbol Representation Changed Back to Task Bar with Task/Milestone Curtain

Keeping Track of Curtains in the Chart

In any Chart where curtains of various types are used for multiple purposes, it may become necessary to consult a list of curtain entities that are in the Chart or snapshots. The Time Axis Levels and Cells feature of OnePager provides a location where all curtains in the Chart are listed. Whenever you add a curtain to the Chart, regardless of the method used, an entry is made in the Curtains and Timespans Grid found in the Chart Properties form's Time Axis tab's Format sub-tab as shown below for the example used in this article thus far:

The Grid entry for the Task/Milestone Curtain provides access to the Standard OnePager Color Chooser form for the Task/Milestone Curtain which can be edited in the Grid. Because task bars/milestone symbols have their Start/Finish Dates fixed in OnePager these dates cannot be edited.

Using the illustration from the pervious section where there were three (3) Task/Milestone Curtains with the same color and same transparency, the Curtains and Timespans Grid looks like this:

For more information on The Grid, the Chart Properties form's Time Axis tab, and other curtain features related to the Time Axis Levels and Cells feature, please sees the article at:

Managing Inserted Curtains

For more general information on the Time Axis Levels and Cells feature in OnePager, please see the articles at:

Modifying the Time Axis (Portal)

Summary

The new Task/Milestone Curtain feature is provided to give you additional capabilities to highlight task bar/milestone symbol related issues in schedule conversations. Controls are provided for you to edit the Color and Transparency of the Task/Milestone Curtain associated with the selected task bar/milestone symbol. Additionally, controls are provided for extending the timespan of the Task/Milestone Curtain around the selected task bar/milestone symbol to suit the goals and objectives of the schedule conversation. Further, Task/Milestone Curtains can be shown in some or all snapshots as required. Finally, when desired, Task/Milestone Curtains can be deleted from some or all snapshots.