Adding Conditional Formatting Rules (OnePager Express)

Use the following steps to add a conditional formatting rule or rules:

1) From either the “Task Bars” or “Milestones” tab of the ”Project-View Properties” or “Template Properties” form, click the “Manage Rules” button:

2) At this point you are ready to add rules. To do this, click on the “Add Rule” button. OnePager will create a blank line in the window shown above and you are ready to enter the desired first rule. The line consists of three major parts: (1) the rule select check box, (2) the rule conditions, and (3) the rule actions. First let’s look at the first two parts as shown below:

3) The rule-select box in the column above called “On” is checked and the columns that include the rule conditions are shown. Entering some parameter data into the rule would give the following before the rule actions are established:

4) In the “Column” field shown above is a drop down that allows you to select the column from your Microsoft Excel plan that OnePager will examine for this rule. The second field above (“Operator”) is a drop down that allows you to pick from the following operators:

a) Text field types have four Operators: equal, not equal, Contains, and Does not contain.

b) For Numeric and date fields, the operators are shown here:

c) For Boolean fields (i.e., True/False) the operators are shown in the graphic below. Note that the Value field is ghosted since selecting the Operator satisfies the need for a Value.

5) Since OnePager knows the field type imported from your Microsoft Excel spreadsheet plan, the “Operator” field above will show the appropriate operator selections when the drop down menu above is accessed.

6) The “Value” fields in the two illustrations above are associated with the “Column” field selection. OnePager will perform the evaluation and then apply the formats specified in the rule to the tasks/milestones as determined by the “Applies to” field above. Note that for string matches, it is permissible to have the value field be a set of strings separated by commas. In this situation, the rule will be matched when the column value is equal to any of the comma-separated values. The Value field is not used when the Column field is a Microsoft Excel Boolean data type.

7) To make the comparison between text fields specified in the “Column” field of the “Conditional Formatting Rules” Dialog box, OnePager Express will trim leading and trailing “white” space such as blanks or control characters. However, OnePager Express will NOT trim “excess white space” within a valid character string.

8) The “Value” field may be used to compare against today’s date by inserting the word “TODAY” into the “Value” field. This is useful for establishing a rule where it is important to color or otherwise highlight a task whose “Finish” date is less than or equal to today’s date, for example. Such a rule might look like the illustration below:

9) To tell OnePager whether to apply a rule to tasks, to milestones, or to both, there are three options for the “Applies to” field as shown below:

(11.4)