Difference between revisions of "Task Bars Tab for Version 7.2"

Latest revision as of 18:47, 14 March 2024

About the Task Bars Tab for 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, Project for the Web, Planisware Enterprise, Asana, and Wrike.

The Task Bars tab page, shown below, lets you control the style and decoration of task bars. Additionally, within this tab are the controls for creating and managing conditional formatting rules.

The Task Bars tab in the Chart Properties form is the same as the Task Bars tab in the Template Properties form. Additionally, it is possible to make edits in the Task Bars tab and have these edits mirrored in the Milestones tab of the Chart Properties form and vice versa.

For more information on Mirrored controls, please see the article at:

Please check the Related Links section below for more information on sub-forms accessible from the Task Bars tab:

Default Task Bar Styles Control Group

Collected in the Default Task Bar Styles sub-control group are all the controls associated with defining or changing the properties of task bars properties. These controls include:

Shape

The dropdown menu shows a lengthy variety of task bar shapes available for use as shown here:

Fill - Gradient and Hash Fill Patterns for Version 7.2

In addition to the gradient fill patterns previously available for differentiating task bars/ milestone symbols, we added a set of twenty-six (26) hash fill patterns that can be used as described above. The gradient fill patterns are shown below as an example at the Chart Properties form’s Task Bars tab’s Fill dropdown in the Default Task Bar Styles sub-section:

When you click the Hash Patterns sub-tab shown above, the dropdown form containing all the available hash fill patterns as shown here:

For a complete list of gradient and hash fill patterns, please see the article at:

For more information on the gradient and hash fill patterns features, please see the article at:

Sample Chart Using Gradients, Hash Fill Patterns, Dynamic Shapes and Emoji Symbols

The OnePager chart below is modified in the Chart Editor to include different gradient and hash fill patterns as well as some different dynamic shapes and emoji symbols:

Task Bar Transparency

Starting with Version 7.2 of OnePager you can globally control the transparency of all task bars/milestone symbols showing in the chart using the Transparency control located in the Default Task Bar Styles control group of the Task Bars and Milestones tabs of the Template Properties and Chart Properties forms as shown below for the Chart Properties form's Task Bars tab:

As an example, suppose the OnePager Chart shown below has a current Transparency value for task bars/milestone symbols of zero (0) percent as shown in part below:

Changing the Transparency value to 50% using the controls in the Task Bars tab is shown here:

When you click OK or Apply on the Chart Properties form, the task bars/milestone symbols in the chart look like this:

For the purpose of illustration, if we further increase the Transparency value to 100% the portion of the chart in the example looks like this:

For the purpose of managing the Transparency of individual task bars/milestone symbols, OnePager provides Transparency controls in the Change Task/Milestone Properties form at the Format tab as shown below:

For more information on Transparency fills, please see the article at the link below:

Task Bar Drop Shadows

Version 7.2 also introduces the Drop Shadow feature which provides you with an additional means to highlight task bars/milestones symbols, baselines, deadlines, and endpoints. As with the Transparency controls, the Drop Shadow controls are located in the Default Task Bar Styles control group of the Task Bars tabs of the Template Properties and Chart Properties forms as shown below for the Chart Properties form's Task Bars tab:

As an illustration the chart section below is using the default Drop Shadow selection shown in the Shadow Properties form above:

The Shadow Properties form shown above provides the options for you to use preset drop shadows or to create your own custom drop shadows using the controls provided.

For more information on Drop Shadows, please see the article at the link below:

Transparency and Drop Shadows

Transparency values can be increased for a task bar/milestone symbol when drop shadows are shown in the chart as well. When the transparency value for a task bar/milestone symbol is high the drop shadow is likely be seen through the task bar/milestone symbol as illustrated below:

Task Bar Height

These two (2) radio buttons and their associated values allow you to set the task bar height as an absolute quantity (inches or centimeters) or as a percentage of the row height, which is shown in parentheses for reference as shown here:

Border Controls

In the upper right corner of the form, there are three (3) controls that allow you change (1) the color of task bar shape's border, (2) the width of the border and (3) the border’s style as shown below with the Border Color dropdown clicked to access the standard Color Chooser form:

Further, you have the capability to establish the border color to be the same as the task bar shape fill color which effectively makes the task bar shape border disappear. Clicking the dropdown button on the Border Color control accesses the standard OnePager Color Chooser form as shown in the above illustration. The Border Width control allows you to set the value for the width of the task bar shape's border in inches or centimeters depending on the Template that was originally used to create the chart.

There are five (5) Border Styles to select from with the default style set at Solid as shown below:

Task Bar/Milestone Symbol Fill Color

OnePager supports both foreground coloring, that is, the selected color option you choose to represent the task bar and background coloring which can be used in conjunction with Hash fill patterns now available with OnePager editions. Foreground color and Background color controls for task bars/milestone symbols are discussed below.

Foreground Color Controls Options for Task Bar/Milestone Symbol Fill Colors

The Task Bar/Milestone Fill Color sub-control group provides two (2) options for assigning initial foreground colors to task bar shapes and is shown below:

You can specify a single foreground color for all task bar shapes via the standard OnePager Color Chooser form when the Use on color: radio button is is checked ON. More commonly, clicking the Color-code based on radio button allows you to select a field from your source plan to assign a data driven foreground color to each task bar.

The data driven foreground color assignment is sometimes referred to as round-robin color. OnePager goes in sequence through the color palette and assigns a new color when it finds a new distinct value in the data. If it finds more distinct values than there are colors in the palette, it starts over at the beginning of the palette and uses each color for a second data value, and so on. Also note that the Color-code based on selects a single data field that applies to both task bars and milestone symbols as shown here:

This is one of the few places where task bars and milestone symbols are constrained to have the same default behavior.

Background Color Controls for Task Bar/Milestone Symbol Hash Fill Pattern Colors

When a Hash Fill Pattern is selected as the Fill Pattern for Task Bars, the Background Color dropdown is enabled. The Background Color control allows you to select a different background color that shows behind the Hash Fill Pattern whose foreground color is determined by the radio button you selected for the Foreground Color discussed in the previous sub-section. The enabled Background Color dropdown window looks like this when a Hash Fill Pattern is selected:

When these setting are used to update the chart, it looks like this:

Mirror format settings between task bars and milestones

This single checkbox sub-control is used so that you have the option to simply apply any property edits you make to task bars to milestone symbols without having to go to the Milestones tab of the Chart Properties form.

It is recommended that you check the Mirror format settings between task bars and milestones checkbox ON before making any edits in the tab and click the Apply button on the Chart Properties form. That way, OnePager applies the edits to both task bars and milestones symbols from the start. Task bar and milestone symbol fill colors are always mirrored regardless of the Mirror... checkbox being checked ON or OFF.

When this checkbox is checked ON, OnePager automatically makes any changes to Milestones properties that are made to Task Bar properties for all settings where a blue dot appears to the right of the setting as in the illustration below where the checkbox is checked ON:

Task Bar Decorations Control Group

There are seven (7) decorations for task bars. Each can be turned ON by checking the associated checkbox to the left of the control's label as shown here:

Each of these decorations controls can be accessed by clicking the adjacent button as shown in the illustration above. When any of the seven (7) decoration buttons are clicked, OnePager accesses a form with specific controls to manage the decorations for that decoration type. What follows is a description of each of the specific control forms associated with each of the seven (7) decoration types:

Task Bar Label Properties... Button and The Set Label Properties Form

Clicking Task Bar Label Properties... button accesses the Set Label Properties form shown below wherein the source plan field name for the task, task bar label font properties, label positions, and label text collision avoidance controls can be set as shown here:

Task Bar Name Field Selection

The Set Label Properties form's Label field dropdown as shown below allows you to access the full list of source plan field names imported by OnePager and select from the dropdown the field name OnePager uses to provide a visible task label into the chart for each visible task bar/milestone symbol:

Task Bar Label Font Properties

Clicking the Label font dropdown button accesses the standard OnePager Font properties form as shown below:

The standard Font properties form allows you to set the Label text's font type, color using the standard Color Chooser form, the font size in pixels, and the Bold - Italics - Underline settings.

Task Bar Label Position

The default task bar label position is Best fit all directions as shown in the illustration below along with the other nine (9) available standard positions :

The default setting of Best fit all directions gives OnePager the flexibility to establish task bar/milestone symbol label positions that do not collide with other graphics in the chart.

One Pager's Text Label Collision Avoidance feature, discussed in brief next, provides you with a set of rules you can employ to tell OnePager how to position task bar/milestone symbol text labels in the chart.

Smart Labeling Settings

As mentioned, OnePager has a Smart Labeling or the Text Label Collision Avoidance feature that attempts to avoid cluttered text labels appearing in the graph or at least to minimize the occurrences. The controls available to you are shown below:

The Enable smart labeling for task/milestone labeling checkbox enables the Smart Labeling controls when the checkbox is checked ON and disables the controls when the checkbox is checked OFF. There are four (4) algorithm types available for you to enable/disable, set a specific parameter, and establish an algorithm priority among the set of four.

Wrap text up to

The Wrap text up to (value) lines algorithm tells OnePager, depending on the priority established, to take the text label string and wrap it into a maximum of lines up to the value set in the parameter. The default is set to 2 lines.

Stair steps up to

The Stair steps up to (value) levels algorithm tells OnePager, again depending on the priority establishes, to create a Comment box like structure that connects to the task bar/milestone symbol that holds the text label string. The number of levels value is typically set to 1 meaning that the Stair step is positioned in the row immediately above the row containing the subject task bar/milestone symbol. Higher number of level values increases the number of rows skipped in positioning the Stair step.

Truncate text to

The Truncate text to (value) characters algorithm tells OnePager to chop off an excessively long text label string up to and including the value number of characters and replace the truncated text label charters with the ... character so the modified text label string fits in the selected position. The value number of charters setting is set to 20 characters including the ... character.

Shrink font by up to

The Shrink font by up to (value) percent algorithm tell OnePager to reduce the text label string's font size up to the percentage specified in the value until the reduced font size text label string fits in the selected position.

Vertical and Horizontal Sensitivity Settings

The Vertical and Horizontal sensitivity controls supporting the task bar name label collision algorithm is shown below:

The task bar name label collision algorithm operates by looking for task bar name labels that are close to one another and if too close or overlapping, the algorithm takes action following the priorities you set in the Set Label Properties form. You can change how close OnePager looks for adjacent task bar name labels by making point adjustments to the Vertical and Horizontal controls provided in the above form. As used here and elsewhere in OnePager, points are the unit of measure used on the standard OnePager Font properties form for the Size of text fonts as shown below:

The adjustments operate as follows:

1) To increase the sensitivity of the algorithm in either the vertical or horizontal directions increase the point value in the control in the positive direction. Increasing the point value, making the value a higher or more positive value increases the sensitivity of the algorithm causing OnePager to potentially find more collision situations and taking corrective action more frequently.

2) To decrease the sensitivity of the algorithm in either the vertical or horizontal directions decrease the point value in the control in the negative direction. Decreasing the point value, making the value a lower or more negative value decreases the sensitivity of the algorithm causing OnePager to potentially find fewer collision situations and taking corrective action less frequently.

Allowable values for the Vertical sensitivity and Horizontal sensitivity range from -100 points to +100 points.

Additional Information Links

For more information on the Smart Labeling/Text Label Collision Avoidance feature and text labeling, please see the articles at:

%Complete Properties

Clicking this button accesses the Set percent-complete properties form shown below which controls the display characteristics of the %Complete representation.

The Set percent-complete properties form allows you to set the name of the percent complete field from the source plan, the color of the percent complete bar in the task bar, and several other properties.

OnePager Pro and OnePager Express support %Complete for Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel, respectively. OnePager Bundle for Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel supports %Complete representations in the chart. OnePager Bundle also supports %Complete for Oracle Primavera P6, Smartsheet, Project for the Web, and Planisware Enterprise source plans.

For more information on the settings in the Set percent-complete properties form and Honoring non-working times, please see the articles at:

Critical Path Properties

Clicking the Critical Path Properties button accesses the Set critical-path properties form shown below which allows you to control the color and height, with respect to the height of the task bar, of the critical path representation:

Only OnePager Pro and OnePager Bundle support the representation of critical path in the chart for Microsoft Project source plans. OnePager Express does not support critical path for Microsoft Excel. OnePager Bundle supports critical path for Microsoft Project source plans but do not support critical path for Microsoft Excel source plans. OnePager Bundle for Oracle Primavera P6 XER formatted files supports critical path because the data are available from the Oracle Primavera P6 XER formatted file export. However, OnePager Bundle for Oracle Primavera P6 XML formatted files does not support critical path because the data are not available from the Oracle Primavera P6 XML formatted file export. OnePager Bundle for Smartsheet, Project for the Web, and Planisware Enterprise source plans supports critical path when the data are available in the exported source plan to OnePager Bundle Standalone.

For more information on the use of the Set critical-path properties form, please see the article at:

Baseline Properties

Clicking the Baseline Properties button accesses the Set baseline properties form shown below which controls the shape, fill, and color of baseline bars, the connecting line properties, and how the baseline dates are displayed.

OnePager Pro and OnePager Express support Baseline representations for Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel, respectively. OnePager Bundle for Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel also supports Baseline representations in the chart. OnePager Bundle supports Baseline representations for Oracle Primavera P6 XML formatted files only as Oracle Primavera P6 XER formatted files do not export baseline data. OnePager Bundle also supports Baseline representations for Smartsheet, Project for the Web, and Planisware Enterprise source plans.

For more information on the function and use of the controls in the Set baseline properties form, please see the article at:

Baseline Dates Used to Visualize Changes Between Snapshots

There are four (4) new virtual baseline dates added to the available list of date fields found in the OnePager Set baseline properties form's Baseline dates control group. These four (4) virtual baseline dates are:

• Previous Snapshot Start
• First Snapshot Start
• Previous Snapshot Finish
• First Snapshot Finish

These four (4) virtual baseline dates support the new feature available to your for visualizing changes in start/finish dates between snapshots. For complete information on the visualizing changes in start/finish dates between snapshots, please see the article shown in the link below:

Date Label Properties...

Clicking the Date Label Properties... button accesses the Set date label properties form shown below which controls the properties of the date label.

You can control the date label’s font properties, the position and display of the start and finish date, the format of the date label, and how to separate the date from the task bar’s label text.

For more information on the use of the controls in the Set date label properties form, please see the article at:

Deadline Properties...

Clicking Deadline Properties button accesses the Set deadline properties form shown below which controls for the shape, fill, and position of the deadline controls.

It also lets you set a special color to denote deadlines that have not been met. Additionally, as with the Baseline Properties form described above, the Set deadline properties form controls connecting lines for deadlines and the properties of deadline date display.

OnePager Pro and OnePager Express support Deadline representations for Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel, respectively. OnePager Bundle for Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel also supports Deadline representations in the chart. OnePager Bundle supports Deadline representations for Oracle Primavera P6 XML and XER formatted files if the column is defined in the source plan and these columns are exported. OnePager Bundle supports Deadline representations for Smartsheet, Project for the Web, Planisware Enterprise, Asana, and Wrike source plans if the column is defined in the source plan and exported.

For more information on the use of the controls in the Set deadline properties form, please see the article at:

Endpoint Properties...

Clicking Endpoint Properties button accesses the Set endpoint properties form shown below which controls all properties for up to four (4) endpoints.

OnePager Pro and OnePager Express support Endpoints representations for Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel, respectively. OnePager Bundle for Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel also supports Endpoints representations in the chart. OnePager Bundle supports Endpoints representations for Oracle Primavera P6 XML and XER formatted files if these columns are defined in the source plan and these data are exported. OnePager Bundle supports Endpoints representations for Smartsheet, Project for the Web, Planisware Enterprise, Asana, and Wrike source plans if these columns are defined in the source plan and exported.

Each endpoint can display the date imported from any date field exported with the source plan. These properties are controlled essentially the same way as described above for Deadline Properties form, above.

For more information on the use of the controls in the Set endpoint properties form, please see the article at:

Conditional Formatting Control Group

The Conditional Formatting control group on the Task Bar tab has one button control, the Manage Rules… button, as shown below:

Clicking this button accesses the Conditional Formatting for Tasks & Milestones form shown below which allows you to define, change, delete, and copy rules governing the formatting of task bars based on data imported from your Microsoft Project source plan.

For more information on how to use the Conditional Formatting feature and the Conditional Formatting for Tasks & Milestones form, please see the article at:

Related Links

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