Difference between revisions of "Advanced Tab for OnePager Express for Version 7.0"

Latest revision as of 16:41, 20 January 2021

About the Advanced Tab-OnePager Express

The Advanced tab controls various other properties of the chart and looks like this:

The Advanced tab shown above has several control groups that generally brings together controls by functional area. Each of these control groups and their sub-controls groups are covered in the sub-sections that follow.

Display Options

The Display Options group, shown below, contains a number of checkboxes for making ON/OFF choices governing features in the Chart Editor, various thresholds, and input/output options.

Show Hover Boxes Checkbox

The Show hover boxes checkbox controls the display of detailed information about each task bar/milestone symbol when the mouse cursor hovers over it. This information includes the Start/Finish dates, the task bar/milestone symbol name, and the Unique-ID of the task from the Excel source plan.

An example is shown below.

Select Associated Text Checkbox

OnePager provides the Select associated text checkbox control for you to change the response that a left-click on a task bar allowing a single click on the task bar to select both the task bar and its corresponding text label. When the Select associated text checkbox is checked ON, selecting a task bar/milestone symbol in the graph not only selects the task bar/milestone symbol but also its task bar name label and the other text elements if set for being displayed. When the Select associated text checkbox is checked OFF, only the selected task bar/milestone symbol is shown as selected.

For more information on selecting task bars/milestone symbols, please see the article at: Selecting Task/Milestone Shapes and Text Labels

The Select associated text checkbox is also found in the Template Properties form’s Advanced tab in the Display options control group as shown below for the Chart Properties form:

If you mouse over this checkbox the following tool tip appears: When the task bar/milestone symbol is selected, also select all text associated with the shape, including the task name, dates, and percent complete labels. As with all tool tips they are provided to assist you in determining what the control basically does.

As an example, the illustration below is a chart portion where there was a left-click on the task bar only when the Select associated text checkbox is checked OFF.

Left-clicking the task bar only selects the task bar as shown above. When the task bar is selected in the above example, only the Icons on the Home tool bar tab that are applicable to editing task bars are enabled. The enabled control groups are: Editing, Settings, Font, and Format. Even with the Select associated text checkbox checked OFF, left-clicks on the task bar still allow you to change Font properties but not text label position. You can change text label alignment if the text label is configured such that text label alignment changes are available.

However, in the situation described above, where one or more task bars are left-clicked with the Select associated text checkbox checked OFF, you can right-click on any of the selected task bar, access its normal task bar right-click context menu, and use all the commands in the context menu as well as all the tabs available in the Change Task/Milestone Properties form accessed from the Format… command in the context menu. Additionally, you can access the Change Task/Milestone Properties form by clicking the Format… Icon on the Home tool bar tab as shown below:

To complete the example, the illustration below is a chart portion where the Select associated text checkbox is checked ON, and the task bar is selected with a left-click:

With the Select associated text checkbox checked ON, a left-click on the task bar selects the task bar and its text label as shown above. When the task bar and text label are selected in the above example, ALL Icons on the Home tool bar tab that are applicable to editing task bars and text labels are enabled. The applicable control groups are: Editing, Settings, Font, Format, and Position.

The Alignment control group is only enabled if there is an option available to re-align the text label or text labels for selected items. Essentially, checking the Select associated text checkbox ON makes the OnePager 7.0 behavior relative to left-clicking of task bars or text labels operate the same as left-clicking only the task bar in previous versions of OnePager.

You can right-click on either the task bar or text label in this situation and the appropriate task bar or text label right-click context menu is accessed and all associated commands operate as documented including gaining access to the Change Task/Milestone Properties form. OnePager 7.0, regardless of the status of the Select associated text status of checked ON or checked OFF, permits you to right-click on any previously selected task bar or text label and accesses any of the context menu commands.

Format With Times Checkbox

When the Format with times checkbox is checked ON, the snapshot dates are displayed with a time of day component. Snapshot dates that differ by their time of day component are considered different snapshot dates.

For example, October 15, 2020 becomes October 15, 2020 5:23 PM and is a different snapshot date than October 15, 2020 6:00 PM. Note that this setting no longer controls the format of the dates on the task bars and milestone symbols. Below is an example of the Select Snapshot form displaying the date format with time:

Show Time Cursor Checkbox

When the Show time cursor checkbox is checked ON, the vertical time-cursor line is shown as shown here:

Checking the Show time cursor checkbox OFF, hides the vertical time-cursor line. There is also a checkbox in the OnePager Express View ribbon tool bar tab in the Graphic Elements group called Time Cursor that causes the vertical time-cursor line to be shown when the checkbox is checked ON as shown below:

Allow Absorption Checkbox

When the Allow absorption checkbox is checked ON, you can drag one task bar onto another task bar and be prompted to absorb the former into the latter. When the checkbox is checked OFF, this process does not take place and one task bar dragged over another is displayed as two separate task bars superimposed.

For more information on Absorbed Tasks, please see the article at: Absorbing one task into another

Show Absorbed Dates Checkbox

When the Show absorbed dates checkbox is checked ON OnePager Express creates a Comment box associated with the absorbed task bar connected to the task bar absorbing the absorbed task bar and provides you the option of specifying the date displayed in the Comment box as shown below:

The illustration above show the result of absorbing the first task bar where a Comment box is displayed connected to the absorbing task bar. Also shown in the illustration above is a second task bar in the process of being absorbed where the Absorption Options form is shown. Making a selection from the radio buttons and clicking OK creates the second Comment box. You have the option to display the At end date, At start date, or At both start and end date.

For more information on Absorbing one task into another, please see the article at: Absorbing one task into another

Copy Edits To All Snapshots Checkbox

The Copy edits to all snapshots (CTAS) checkbox is a toggle switch that turns ON and OFF the propagation of Maverick changes to all snapshots (turned ON) or to keep maverick changes to task bars/milestone symbols in the current snapshot (turned OFF). This checkbox affects editing of these task bar/milestone symbol properties: (1) Color, (2) Shape, (2) Fill Pattern, (3) Border, (4) Text Font, (5) Task/milestone height, (6) Task Links

For more information on how CTAS applies to the new Task Links feature in OnePager Express, please see this section in the article at: Data-Driven Task Links for OnePager Express - Condition 2: The Copy Edits to All Snapshots (CTAS) Feature and Data-Driven Task Links

Clip Task/Milestone Labels at Graph Edges Checkbox

When the Clip task/milestone labels at graph edges checkbox is checked ON, OnePager Express clips all task bar/milestone symbol labels that extend over the edge of the graph so that the labels no longer extend over the graph boundaries. The chart below shows how OnePager Express handles task bar/milestone symbol labels that extend into the displayed Row/Swimlane label area when the checkbox is checked ON:

Here is the same chart with the checkbox checked OFF:

Overlay VST Elements Checkbox

When the Overlay VST elements checkbox is checked ON during the construction of a Virtual Summary Task (VST) with milestone symbols, the milestone symbols are displayed on top of the created VST bar. An example is provided below:

For more information on Creating and managing virtual summary tasks please see the article at: Creating and Managing Virtual Summary Tasks

Lock Background Checkbox

When the Lock background checkbox is checked ON, all Background shapes are frozen. Included are these (3) elements: images, swimlane titles, graph title, and time axis annotation. Clicking any of these elements with the mouse no longer selects them, so it becomes easier to select task bars and milestone symbols with the selection Lasso.

Task/Milestone Threshold

This numeric window controls whether short duration tasks are displayed as task bars or as milestone symbols. The unit of measure is task bar duration in number of days. With the setting shown in the Chart Properties form at the top of this article of two (2) days, any task bar in the chart that is less than two (2) days duration is displayed as a milestone symbol. Therefore, one day task bars are displayed as milestone symbols with the default settings of two (2) days. Since no duration can be less than zero (0), setting the parameter to zero (0) turns OFF all conversion of task bars into milestones symbols, which means that you can see task bars with very small width, which makes them very hard to see and to select.

Warn If Import Exceeds

This checkbox tells OnePager to provide a warning message if the number of task bars/milestone symbols imported exceeds the quantity set in the adjacent window. Recall that OnePager has the capability to make multiple pages of output both vertically and horizontally. The warning message example below is configured so that it can issue the warning if more than 10 task bars were imported.

For more information on Warning Message Form, please see the sub-section in this article: Merging the Wrong Tasks into a Chart - OnePager Express - Warning Message Form

Warn Of Merging Tasks

The checkbox shown in the Advanced tab at the beginning of this article is accompanied by a Warning options button. When this checkbox is checked ON, the Warning options button is enabled. Clicking the Warning options button accesses the Set warning thresholds form shown below:

This form allows you to set your own parameters for when you wish to be warned if too many extra task bars are being merged or too many task bars are missing. Setting these percentages to 100% has the impact of turning the fixes and warning OFF. Setting the percentages to 0% provides an assurance that any extra or missing task bars triggers the fixes and warnings. When this checkbox is checked ON, OnePager looks to see if too many newly introduced task bars/milestone symbols are being imported when updating a snapshot or if too many task bars are missing per the thresholds set in the form above.

After making the calculation, OnePager provides a warning message asking if you want to proceed with the update of the snapshot or not. Additionally, the warning message also give you access to the See Extra and Missing Tasks form so you can make a fix if desired. The warning message example below was configured so that it issues the warning if more than 45 percent of the task bars differ from those of the current chart.

For more information on how to make fixes to these situations, please see the article at: Merging the Wrong Tasks into a Chart - OnePager Express

Merge Tasks on Snapshot Replacement

The Merge tasks on snapshot replacement checkbox supports the import of multiple Microsoft Excel source plans to form single project view.

A simple example shows how this checkbox works.

Suppose that the first Microsoft Excel source plan contains Tasks A, B, and C and that the second plan contains Tasks D, E, and F. After making a new chart from the first source plan, you open the second Microsoft Excel source plan and update the chart in Replace Snapshot mode. If the checkbox is checked is checked ON, the chart now contains Tasks A, B, C, D, E, and F. If the checkbox is checked OFF, the chart now contains only Tasks D, E, and F.

The two article links below are associated with OnePager Express (OPX) and provide assistance with the creation of multi-project charts where multiple projects are contained in a single Microsoft Excel source plan (spreadsheet) or where you want to make a single chart from multiple Microsoft Excel source plans:

Reset Unique Ids On Update

The Reset unique ids on update checkbox is disabled in the Advanced tab of the Chart Properties form and cannot be enabled. The disabled checkbox is provided in the form for consistency so that you see that it is there. This feature can be enabled as a last resort under the situation where you are attempting to merge Excel source plans from different physical files into a single source plan where the Excel Unique IDs do not match. Contact OnePager Support for information on how to use this rarely-used feature by referring to the article at: Getting Support

For more details on selecting alternate Unique ID fields for this purpose, please see the article at: Field Mappings Tab for OnePager Express

For additional help, please go to the following link to the OnePager Frequently Asked Questions page: Selecting a Custom Unique ID.

If you encounter difficulties, contact our Support Team at support ticket, by e-mailing us, or by calling +1.303.779.0344.

Task Representation

The Task representation control group consists of three (3) radio buttons as shown below:

These radio buttons let you select how a task bar is represented: as a Gantt bar, by a Milestone at the start date, or a Milestone at the end date of the task bar.

Gantt Bar/Task Bar Radio Button Selection

Below is an example of a portion of a chart with task bars represented as Gantt bars:

Milestone At Start Radio Button Selection

If the Milestone at start radio button is clicked ON and the tab's OK or Apply button is clicked, the portion of the chart looks like this:

Milestone At End Radio Button Selection

If the Milestones at end radio button is clicked ON and the tab's OK or Apply button is clicked, the portion of the chart in the above illustration changes to look like this:

Making the selection in the Chart Properties form changes all task bars in the chart to the selected option. You can individually maverick a task bar/milestone symbol by selecting it with a right-click and use the Format ... Command in the task bar right-click context menu to access the Change task/milestone properties form to change the shape at the Format tab.

Default Snapshot Date

The Default Snapshot Date control group consists of four (4) radio buttons as shown below:

OnePager establishes the default date of the snapshot based upon data imported from the Excel source plan. You can, of course, change the snapshot date to a value different from the default date in the OnePager Choices form. In this control group you have four (4) options for setting the basis for the default snapshot date that is used for all snapshots created for this chart:

Last-Modified Date Radio Button

The Last-modified date is the date that the Excel source plan was last modified.

Current Date Radio Button

The Current date is the date when you imported the data from your Excel source plan to create the snapshot.

Sheet Name (Then Last Modified) Radio Button

This is the date specified in the Microsoft Excel source plan sheet name tab at the bottom of the Microsoft Excel source plan. If there is no date value for the sheet name, OnePager will use the Last-modified date.

Sheet Name (Then Current) Radio Button

This is the date specified in the Microsoft Excel source plan sheet name tab at the bottom of the Microsoft Excel source plan. If there is no date value for the sheet name, OnePager will use the Current date. The Current date date is the date available on the day you imported the data from your Microsoft Excel source plan and creating the snapshot. OnePager can translate most date formats acceptable for the sheet name tab field in Microsoft Excel. However, there are restrictions on using the / character when specifying Microsoft Excel sheet names. We recommend that snapshot date information used in Microsoft Excel sheet names be formatted as shown in the illustration below:

Row hiding options

The controls in this group govern the operation of automatic hiding (cropping) of rows. Access to the Row Hiding Options form is by clicking the Row hiding options button in the Chart Properties form's Advanced tab as shown below:

When the Row hiding options button is clicked, the Row Hiding Options form shown above appears providing you with four (4) options to select as discussed below.

Look At Current Snapshot Only Checkbox

When the Look at current snapshot only checkbox is checked ON, OnePager only examines the current snapshot when deciding which rows are empty and are candidates to be hidden. When this checkbox is OFF, OnePager considers a row empty only if it is unoccupied across all snapshots. In either case, the auto-row hiding action hides rows in all snapshots.

Hide Newly-Empty Rows On Import Checkbox

When the Hide newly-empty rows on import checkbox is checked ON, OnePager automatically hides any rows that becomes empty because task bars are missing when the chart is UPDATED. When the Hide newly-empty rows on import checkbox is OFF, OnePager leaves any empty rows that became empty because of such missing task bars alone.

Unhide Rows for Flagged Tasks/Milestones Checkbox

When the Unhide rows for flatted tasks/milestones checkbox is checked ON, OnePager automatically unhides hidden rows if they contain any of the task bars/milestone symbols that are flagged for import on the current snapshot. If the Unhide rows for flatted tasks/milestones checkbox is OFF, OnePager continues to hide previously hidden rows.

Hide Rows When Tasks Are Outside Date Range Checkbox

When the Hide rows when tasks are outside date range option is selected and the checkbox is checked ON, OnePager automatically hides any empty rows where task bars and/or milestone symbols are outside the Start date and End date established for the chart. The Start date and End date settings are either generated by OnePager based upon the range of dates provided from the source packet, set in the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab's Calendar sub-tab, or set in the OnePager Express View ribbon tool bar tab in the Dates control group.

Accessing the Where's My Stuff?! Form

When task bars and their respective rows are hidden and subsequently cropped, the Where’s My Stuff?! form can be accessed from the OnePager Home ribbon tool bar tab in the Editing group as shown here:

For more information on the Where's My Stuff?! feature, please see the article at: Managing Hidden Tasks and Milestones Using "Where's My Stuff?!"

Clipboard Format

The default clipboard format is Vector EMF (Enhanced Meta File). Essentially, this format is vector output with capabilities to retain high quality resolution when moving from the chart snapshot to PowerPoint, Word, Excel, or email messages. Although the default option is EMF format, you can change the default to the alternative option of Image PNG as shown below:

Image file DPI

This control provides the capability for you to select between three DPI settings when outputting images from OnePager to other media. The selection options are 96 DPI, 200 DPI, and 300 DPI as shown below:

For more information on image outputs from OnePager Express, please see the articles at: Managing Chart Data (Portal) and specifically the section at: Sharing an Image

Related Links

Absorbing one task into another

Data-Driven Task Links for OnePager Express

Creating and Managing Virtual Summary Tasks

Merging the Wrong Tasks into a Chart - OnePager Express

Getting Support and Contacting Chronicle Graphics

Field Mappings Tab for OnePager Express

Selecting Task/Milestone Shapes and Text Labels

Managing Hidden Tasks and Milestones Using "Where's My Stuff?!"

Managing Chart Data (Portal)

Sharing Charts (Portal)

Selecting a Custom Unique ID

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