Template Only Features for OnePager Express for Version 7.1

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About Template Properties Form Only Features

Because the Template Properties and Chart Properties forms are similar, this article only covers the areas of the Template Properties form that are different from the Chart Properties form.

The primary focus of this article is on OnePager Express Template Properties form. Since OnePager Bundle can be accessed and launched directly from Microsoft Excel Add-in and once OnePager Bundle Add-in is active you can directly access the OnePager Bundle Add-in Template Properties form for Microsoft Excel. Additionally, launching OnePager Bundle Standalone and selecting a Microsoft Excel source plan requires that a Microsoft Excel Template Properties form be selected to create, update, or open a chart.

For more information on Template Properties and Chart Properties forms, please see the articles at: Core Concepts (Portal) and Templates versus Charts

You should familiarize yourself with the Chart Properties form before reading this article.

For more information on the Chart Properties form, please see the article at: Editing with the Chart Properties form (Portal)

A Few Words On Template Properties Forms

Permanent Template Properties Forms

Chronicle Graphics, Inc. ships OnePager Express (OPX) with one pre-defined permanent Template Properties form that you cannot accidentally delete.

The permanent Template Properties form has the word Permanent in its name. The permanent Template Properties form cannot be modified hence all the control features on each tab are disabled.

Metric Versus Non-Metric

Within a Template Properties form there are settings which are distance measures that must be considered when building the chart. These include the height of individual rows, the height of the percent-complete bar within a task bar, and the like.

OnePager supports two measurement conventions: (1) English (inches) and (2) Metric (centimeters). For convenience, you can identify a Metric based Template form because the word (metric) is included in the title. And these two sets of Template Properties forms are separated by default into English and a Metric sub-folder of the default Templates folder.

Template Properties Form's Main Tab

The Main tab of the Template Properties form differs slightly from the Chart Properties form. The Template Properties form does not have entry controls for the Start date, End date, Title, because dates are systematically produced by OnePager based on the earliest start date and latest finish dates in your source plan data. The Title is something you designate as you create the new chart with the OnePager choices (OPC) form.

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The Colors control group provides access to the Color Palette controls for creating and editing Color Palettes. Additionally, the Colors control group contains all the controls for setting the Chart Background and access to the Set line properties form and its sub-tabs through the Borders, frames, and time-cursor properties button shown here:

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The controls for Row Borders can be found in the Template Properties form's Rows/Swimlanes tab at each of the three sub-tabs in the Swimlanes control group. For more information on Row Borders, please see the article at: Row and Swimlane Borders

The Task Selection control group provides a convenient place in the Template Properties form for you to preset the method you want to use for importing task/milestone information from your Microsoft Excel source plan.

Template Properties Form's Time Axis Tab

The Time Axis tab provides additional Time Axis creation and editing capabilities and to centralize all time axis related controls at one Template Properties form tab.

The same intent is true for the Chart Properties form's Time Axis tab. The Time Axis tab for the OnePager Express Template Properties form is shown below:.

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The controls in the Time Axis tab are identical to those in the Chart Properties form's Time Axis tab. For more information on the Time Axis tab, please see the article at Modifying the Time Axis (Portal)

Template Properties Form's Rows/Swimlanes Tab

The Rows/Swimlanes tab provides additional Rows/Swimlanes creation and editing capabilities and centralizes all rows and swimlanes related controls at one Template Properties form tab. The same intent is true for the Chart Properties form's Time Axis tab. The Rows/Swimlanes tab for the OnePager Express Template Properties form is shown below:

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For more information on the Rows/Swimlanes tab, please see the articles at: Creating and Editing Rows and Swimlanes (Portal)

Of importance is the Show task links checkbox in the Default Task-Link Formatting control group shown above. This checkbox acts as a Master Switch enabling the Task Links feature in OnePager Express.

The Import predecessors checkbox is unchecked or OFF in OnePager Express distributed Template Properties forms. This avoids an initial cluttering of the chart if there are a large number of dependencies imported from the Microsoft Excel source plan. This approach also gives you full control over the Task Link import process from the chart. The controls in the Task Links tab are identical to those in the Chart Properties form's Task Links tab.

For more information on the Chart Properties form's Task Links tab, please see the article at: Editing Task Links with the Chart Properties Form

Template Properties Form's Advanced Template Tab

The Advanced tab is shown below. Most of these parameters in the Template Properties form are identical to those appearing in the Chart Properties form.

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Lock Background Checkbox Not Available

In the Template Properties Form’s Advanced tab there is no Lock background checkbox in the Display options group. This is an option available after the chart is created.

Configuring Multi-Project Imports

One key difference between the Template Properties form and Chart Properties form is the ability to use the Template to configure a multi-project import.

Additional information is available on creating Multi-Project charts at:

Basic Workflows (Portal)
Creating Various Multi-Project Charts with OnePager (Portal)

Template Properties Form's Field Mappings Tab

The new Field Mappings tab in the Template Properties form for OnePager Express looks like this:

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Basic and Date Mappings

OnePager uses source fields for many purposes : (1) displaying task names, (2) displaying start dates, (3) assigning colors to tasks, and (4) grouping rows into swimlanes. The use of a source field for a purpose is called a field mapping. The eight (8) dropdown lists above are a set of important field mappings that are collected in the Field Mappings tab page. The other field mappings are on the Rows/Swimlanes, Task Bars, and Milestones form tab pages.

Some field mappings (e.g. percent-complete) appear both here and on other Template Properties form tab pages. This Field Mappings tab in the Template Properties form is also available in the Chart Properties form. Each dropdown list contains the source fields that have the correct data type(s) for the purpose. For example, in the Basic Mappings group, the Task label field dropdown contains only text fields from Microsoft Excel. And the dropdown lists in the Date Mappings group contain only Microsoft Excel date fields.

These mappings are useful if your standard field usage differs and you want to avoid having to constantly make the changes on the second page of OnePager choices (OPC) form shown below:

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For more detailed information on the Field Mappings feature, please see this section in the article at: Field Mappings Tab for OnePager Express - Basic Mappings

Task Bar/Milestone Symbol Identity Mapping

The Task/Milestone Identity Mapping control group lets you select a Microsoft Excel field that can be used to uniquely identify each task shape. Uniquely identifying each task bar or milestone symbol is always important when you plan to update your chart later on, but you normally do not need to change this field mapping because the default mapping works just fine. OnePager uses the Unique Id field to identify each task in the source plan, enabling preservation of each task bar’s color, labeling, and vertical location as you import new or modified data in later updates of the chart.

For source plans that are Microsoft Excel files, the default mapping is to the Microsoft Excel Task ID field. If you opt to change the Task ID mapping away from these reliable defaults, make sure that the new source field has a unique value for each task shape or milestone shape. Keep in mind that once you create a chart with a Task ID mapping, it is nearly impossible to change your mind about how task bars are to be identified. Change this mapping away from the default only if you have a good reason to do so and are sure that the field contains no duplicate values. To map an alternate Task ID field, use the dropdown menu shown in the illustration below:

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When changing to an alternate Task ID field, OnePager Express displays a warning message as follows:

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For more information on the Task/Milestone Identity Mapping feature, please see this section in the article at: Field Mappings Tab for OnePager Express - Task/Milestone Identity Mapping

Field Splitting Feature

The Field Splitting control group lets you split each task into a set of nearly-duplicate task shapes based upon a comma-separated list of values in some source field. For example, you could split a task that had three Resources assigned to it into three almost-identical task shapes that differ only in their value of Resource. Once you create a chart with field splitting turned On, it is impossible to change your mind and go back to unsplit task shapes for that chart or change to a different field for the splitting.

For more information on Field Splitting and Parsing Columns, pleas see the article at: Splitting and Parsing Fields-OnePager Express

Related Links

Core Concepts (Portal)

Templates versus Charts

Basic Workflows (Portal)

Creating Various Multi-Project Charts with OnePager (Portal)

Creating and Editing Rows and Swimlanes (Portal)

Linking Task and Milestone Using Manual and Data-Driven Task Links (Portal)

Editing with the Chart Properties form (Portal)

Field Mappings Tab for OnePager Express

Template Only Features-OnePager Pro

Splitting and Parsing Fields-OnePager Pro

Splitting and Parsing Fields-OnePager Express

Splitting and Parsing Columns for Primavera P6 Source Plans in OnePager Version 7.1

Splitting and Parsing Columns for Smartsheet Source Plans in OnePager Version 7.1

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