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Revision as of 20:40, 15 January 2021

1 Overview
- 1.1 Global Showing and Hiding of Time Axis Level Cells
- 1.2 Manually Hiding, Showing, and Formatting of Individual Time Axis Level Cells
2 The Timespans Grid in the Template Properties and Chart Properties Form’s Time Axis-Format Sub-Tab
3 Manually Hiding Timespans in the Chart
4 Formatting Individual Time Axis Level Cells
5 Notes on Selecting Time Axis Level Cells
6 Related Links

Overview

OnePager Pro provides a feature for controlling the showing and hiding Time Axis Level Cells. In previous versions of OnePager Pro all Time Axis cells in a given Time Axis Level are always shown. While this made it possible to have a complete and contiguous timespan displayed in the chart, for very long timespans there was no way cut out a proportion of the timespan where less interest should be focused in a schedule discussion.

The capability to hide Time Axis Level Cells anywhere in the chart’s timeline provides a way to tailor long timeline charts to achieve the desired focus.

Global Showing and Hiding of Time Axis Level Cells

The controls for both globally showing and hiding Time Axis Level Cells are available in the Template Properties and Chart Properties forms and manual editing in the chart itself. Additionally, there are provisions for recording hidden Time Axis Level Cells in the Template Properties and Chart Properties forms as well as an editing technique to make all hidden Time Axis Level Cells visible with one click. In the Template Properties form there is a sub-tab of the Time Axis tab called the Format sub-tab that provides two control group with the one of interest here called the Curtains and Timespans control group shown below the Days of the Week and Non-Working Times control group in the following illustration:

There is a corresponding Format sub-tab located in the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab with the same two control groups as shown here:

In the two forms above, the Curtains and Timespans control group, which is referred to often in this document as The Grid, records any Time Axis Level Cells that are hidden manually with the attributes of the hidden cells recorded in each of the columns of The Grid shown above. The Grid is also used to record and edit Curtains of all types shown in the chart and its snapshots.

For more information on Creating, editing, and managing time axis daily curtains, please see the article at: Creating, Editing, and Managing Time Axis Daily Curtains for OnePager Pro

Additionally, note the buttons below The Grid where you can be used to add a timespan, delete a selected timespan entry in The Grid, and copy a selected timespan entry in order to create/edit the copy as desired. Timespans are snapshot-independent which means that the content of The Grid in terms of hidden Time Axis Level Cells is a function of the hidden Time Axis Level Cells in each snapshot in a chart. OnePager Pro builds The Grid and its are entries based upon the snapshot being displayed in the Chart Editor.

Manually Hiding, Showing, and Formatting of Individual Time Axis Level Cells

Time Axis Level Cells as well as Floating Time Axis Level Cells can be hidden by manually selecting one or more Cells in a Time Axis Level with left-clicks and then right-clicking on a selected Cell to access the time axis right-click context menu shown below:

Clicking the Hide cell command in the above context menu makes the three selected Bottom Time Axis Level Cells disappear from the chart along with portions of the task bars/milestone symbols occupying the timespan being hidden in the graph. The result of clicking the Hide cell command looks like this:

OnePager provides a single control to unhide all hidden Time Axis Level Cells with one click using the Show/Hide dropdown on the OnePager Pro Home ribbon tool bar tab’s Editing group as shown below:

The purpose of this article is to cover global and manual showing and hiding of Time Axis Level Cells as over-viewed above. In addition, this article covers the manual editing of Time Axis Level Cell properties in the chart.

The Timespans Grid in the Template Properties and Chart Properties Form’s Time Axis-Format Sub-Tab

The Grid Controls in the Chart Properties Form

The Grid, found in both the Template Properties form and Chart Properties form Time Axis tab at the Format sub-tab, is an important addition to OnePager Pro. It is used for recording, creating, and editing hidden timespans in the chart. The Grid is also used for recording, creating, and editing all Curtains in the chart.

For more information on Creating, editing, and managing time axis daily curtains, please see the article at: Creating, Editing, and Managing Time Axis Daily Curtains for OnePager Pro

For the context here, focusing on showing and hiding Time Axis Level Cells, whenever a Time Axis Level Cell is hidden in the chart, an entry is place in The Grid as illustrated next.

Hiding Time Axis Cells Example

Suppose we have the chart below and wish to hide three contiguous Time Axis Level Cells in the Bottom Time Axis Level. To do this, select the three Time Axis Level Cells and right-click on any of them to access the time axis right-click context menu shown below:

After clicking the Hide cell command in the context menu, the chart looks like this:

The three contiguous Time Axis Level Cells are hidden at the location in the timespan shown above.

Additionally, an entry is made in The Grid to record this edit as shown below:

There are now three entries in The Grid showing the properties of each hidden Time Axis Level Cell including its From/To dates, Zoom% (discussed elsewhere as noted below), and its Priority which is a control that helps OnePager Pro to properly restore the hidden entry to show status when requested.

The Grid's Organization and Controls

The other columns in The Grid are used as follows:

1) The column on the left is used for selecting the entry with a left-click which identifies which entry is to be referenced for the Delete Timespan and Copy Timespan buttons.

2) The ON column can be used to disable the particular Grid entry by unchecking it.

3) All new Grid entries are created with the ON column checkbox checked ON.

4) When the checkbox is unchecked of OFF, the corresponding Time Axis Level Cell becomes shown in the chart when the Chart Properties form’s OK or Apply buttons are clicked. The entry remains in The Grid if needed in the future.

5) The Show column and its checkboxes are used to unhide the corresponding Time Axis Level Cell with one click in The Grid. The entry in The Grid remains for future use.

6) The Zoom% column represents the width of the hidden Time Axis Level Cell as a percentage of the size of other Time Axis Cells in that Level.

For more information on Zoom%, please see the article at: The Non-Linear Time Axis Feature for OnePager Pro

In The Grid, there are three (3) buttons below that are relevant to timespans that are enabled when there are timespan entries in The Grid.

Add Timespan to Grid

The Add Timespan button places a timespan entry in The Grid that allows you to create a hidden Time Axis Level Cell entry by filling in data for the From and To Dates as required. The entry is created with From and To Dates that spans the entire extent of the graph. However, the Show column checkbox checked ON so you have an opportunity to reset or edit the From and To Dates to meet your needs.

A basic Added Timespan entry is shown below:

Delete Timespan in Grid

The Delete Timespan button requires that you first select The Grid timespan entry to be deleted before clicking the Delete Timespan button by first clicking the left most column of the desired entry. Then clicking the Delete Timespan button removes the entry.

Copy Timespan in Grid

The Copy Timespan button also requires that you first select The Grid timespan entry that you want to copy before clicking the Copy Timespan button by first clicking the left most column of the desired entry. Then clicking the Copy Timespan button adds a copy of the selected entry to the bottom of The Grid as shown here:

The Grid and Snapshot-Independence

Since timespans are snapshot-independent, OnePager Pro builds The Grid for timespans uniquely for each snapshot that you access in the Chart Editor. As such, timespans can be hidden in one snapshot and shown in another all under your control.

For more information on the relationship between charts and snapshots, please see the article at: Understanding Charts and Snapshots for OnePager Pro

The Template Properties Form’s Timespan Grid

The Template Properties form Time Axis tab Format sub-tab has the same capabilities for The Grid as the Chart Properties form. In the Template Properties form, The Timespan Grid is used to define hidden Time Axis Level Cells that you want not to show in every chart created using that particular Template Properties form. This is one way that hidden Time Axis Level Cells are created globally.

Manually Hiding Timespans in the Chart

In the section above, the discussion primarily focused on using The Grid for global hiding and showing of Time Axis Level Cells. Using The Grid in this manner is useful when your schedule discussion presentation involves hiding certain Time Axis Level Cells in all snapshots by making the appropriate Grid entries in the Template Properties form Time Axis tab Format sub-tab’s Grid. When you use the Template Properties form’s related capabilities in this way, The Grid is a convenient short cut. In addition to using The Grid in the Template Properties and Chart Properties forms for creating and editing hidden Time Axis Level Cells, OnePager Pro, as mentioned earlier, provides you with manual editing capabilities as well.

These capabilities are discussed in the sub-sections that follow.

Hiding Time Axis Level Cells in One Time Axis Level

You have the capability, as discussed in the first section of this article to select Time Axis Level Cells at any Level and hide them by first selecting the cell or cells and right-clicking to access the time axis right-click context menu as shown here:

After clicking the Hide cell command above, the chart looks like this:

The hidden Time Axis Level Cells are not shown in the chart and any task bars/milestone symbols or portions of the graph occupying the hidden timespan are also hidden.

There are several conditions that should be kept in mind. Decorations on task bars/milestone symbols remain visible if any portion of a task bar/milestone symbol remains visible in the chart after a corresponding Time Axis Level Cell or Cells are hidden. If there are Free Boxes in the chart that occupy the timespan that is going to be hidden, that Free Box or Boxes are relocated by OnePager Pro so they remain visible. You can subsequently select them and manually relocate them where needed. If there are attached Comment Boxes associated with task bars/milestone symbols that are partially hidden by hiding certain Time Axis Cells, the Comment Boxes remain visible and are relocated by OnePager Pro as long as any portion of the parent task bar/milestone symbol is visible in the chart. You can subsequently select them and manually relocate them where needed. If a task bar/milestone symbol is completely hidden by hiding Time Axis Level Cells, the associated Comment Boxes are no longer visible.

Hiding Cells in a Time Axis Level with Timespans in a Lower Level

As a further example, if a greater extent of the total chart’s timeline is hidden, it is more likely that entire task bars/milestone symbols are hidden as shown here where the entire 2020 Time Axis Level Cell is hidden:

There is one timespan entry in The Grid to reflect this action because only one Time Axis Level Cell (the 2020 Top Time Axis Level Cell) was hidden. The Grid is shown below:

OnePager Pro also keeps track of any task bars/milestone symbols that are hidden as a result of the action taken to hide the 2020 Top Time Axis Level for that year. Examining the chart above reveals that many rows in the chart became empty as a result of the Time Axis Level Cell becoming hidden. OnePager Pro does not automatically hide (previously called crop) empty rows.

Using the Where’s My Stuff?! Form

You can access the Where’s My Stuff?! form to see the list of hidden task bars and milestone symbols by going to the OnePager Pro Home ribbon tool bar tab and clicking the Show/Hide dropdown and clicking the Where’s My Stuff?! command as shown below:

Accessing the Where’s My Stuff?! form shows all the hidden task bars and milestone symbols and the reason for them to be hidden as shown below:

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

If you use the Where’s My Stuff?! form to Fix Selected entries, doing so results in the hidden timespan becoming shown along with any hidden timespans in Time Axis Levels below the hidden timespan being fixed. Should additional hidden task bars and milestone symbols become shown in this operation, the Where’s My Stuff?! form is appropriately updated to reflect the correct show/hide status of task bars and milestone symbols in the chart.

Hiding Timespans in the Floating Time Axis

Briefly, if Floating Time Axes are present in the chart and you hide a Time Axis Level Cell(s), the corresponding Floating Time Axis Level Cell(s) are also hidden by the same action. Conversely, if you select and hide a Floating Time Axis Level Cell(s), the corresponding Time Axis Level Cell(s) are also hidden. The Grid, given either of the above two actions, only contains a timespan entry representing the hidden timespan for the Time Axis Level Cell(s) hidden.

For more information on the Floating Time Axis feature, please see the article at: The Floating Time Axis Feature for OnePager Pro

Formatting Individual Time Axis Level Cells

In addition to being able to manually hide Time Axis Level Cells, you also have additionally editing capabilities for Time Axis Level Cells and some of their properties. These additional editing capabilities include being able to format properties of a Time Axis Level Cell, Unstretch all cells (explained fully elsewhere), access the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab at the corresponding Level sub-tab, and insert a curtain corresponding to the From/To Dates of the selected Time Axis Level Cell(s). Some of these capabilities are explained below.

The remaining capabilities can be found by going to these two articles:

The Non-Linear Time Axis Feature for OnePager Pro
Creating, Editing, and Managing Time Axis Daily Curtains for OnePager Pro

Using the Format Cell Command and the Time Axis Cell Properties Form

Time Axis Level Cells as well as Floating Time Axis Level Cells can be Formatted by manually selecting one or more Cells and right-clicking on the selected Cell(s) to access the time axis right-click context menu shown below:

Clicking the Format cell … command accesses the Time Axis Cell Properties form as shown below where you can edit some of the most important properties of the selected Cell(s).

In the Time Axis Cell Properties form there are two familiar controls – Color and Font.Clicking the Color dropdown accesses the OnePager standard Color Chooser form that is used to change the background color of the selected Time Axis Level Cell or Cells. Clicking the Font dropdown accesses the standard Font properties form so that you can edit the text content of the selected Time Axis Level Cells. The Zoom% dial control and the associated Cell width window are used in the Time Axis Cell Properties form to manually stretch or compress the width of the selected Time Axis Level Cell(s).'

For more information on the Zoom% feature, please see the article at: The Non-Linear Time Axis Feature for OnePager Pro

Attempting to set the Zoom% in the Time Axis Cell Properties form to zero (0) or a negative Zoom% value is not accepted by OnePager Pro. Instead, OnePager Pro sets the Zoom% value for entries values less than or equal to zero to a Zoom% value of 2.0 percent. Making any edits to the selected Time Axis Level Cells using the Time Axis Cell Properties form edits only these selected Cells. After the edits are made, the selected Cells are considered mavericks. Likewise, if you use the drag and drop method to alter the width of selected Time Axis Level Cell(s), these also cause the selected Cells to be treated as mavericks. Selecting any maverick Time Axis Level Cell using the procedure above and clicking the Use default properties button in the Time Axis Cell Properties form shown above restores the selected Cells to the global properties established in the Chart Properties form.

Accessing the Chart Properties Form from a Time Axis Level Cell

Clicking the Time-axis properties… command in the Time Axis right-click context menu accesses the Chart Properties form at the Time Axis tab and the sub-tab for the Time Axis Level you selected. Selecting a Time Axis Level Cell from the Bottom Level and right-clicking the Cell accesses the time axis right-click context menu where you can then click the Time-axis properties… command shown here:

Clicking the Time-axis properties… command accesses the Chart Properties form’s Time Axis tab for the Bottom Level as shown below:

By using the Chart Properties form in this way you are able to edit the global properties of all Time Axis Level Cells in the Time Axis Level selected. You can also use the sub-tabs in the form above to go to other Time Axis Levels, to the Calendar sub-tab or the Format sub-tab.

Manually Editing the Width of Time Axis Level Cells (Stretching and Compressing)

Selecting Time Axis Level Cells in a Single Level

Time Axis Level Cells can be stretched or compressed manually by first selecting the Cell with a left-click and using the handlebars to drag the selection rectangle to the desired width as shown here:

If you use your mouse to click on the right handlebar and drag it to the right, when you release the mouse left-click button, the selected Time Axis Level Cell looks like this:

You can use time axis right-click context menu and the Format cell… command to see the new value of the Zoom% which is the amount of stretch applied by the drag and drop method to the selected Cell as shown here:

In addition to the Time Axis Cell Properties form’s Zoom% and Cell width windows being updated by the Time Axis Level Cell stretch action above, there is an entry placed in The Grid as well.

Selecting Time Axis Level Cells in Multiple Levels

You can use your mouse to select Time Axis Level Cells in different Time Axis Levels by using the CTL+Left-Click method as shown here:

Above, there are five (5) Time Axis Level Cells selected in the order shown.

Although there are five (5) Time Axis Level Cells selected above, you can only stretch or compress the selected grouping of Cell using the drag and drop method in one Time Axis Level only as shown below:

If you now use the mouse to stretch the 2019 Quarter 2 Middle Level Time Axis Cell, OnePager de-selects all selected Time Axis Level Cells highlighted in other Time Axis Levels such that only the Middle Level Time Axis Cells that are candidates for stretching remain selected as shown here:

On the other hand, if you start to stretch the Bottom Level Time Axis Cells, OnePager de-selects the Middle Level Time Axis Cells before performing the desired stretch as shown below:

Selecting A Sequence of Multiple Time Axis Level Cells

You can also select a sequential set of Time Axis Level Cells in the same Level by using the SHIFT+Left-Click keys as shown below:

Once the set of Time Axis Level Cells are selected, anyone of them can be used to stretch or compress the set as shown here:

The general rule is that you cannot stretch multiple Time Axis Level Cells that are selected in multiple Time Axis Levels. Only one Time Axis Level Cell set ca be stretched in one operation.

Unstretching Time Axis Level Cells

Clicking the Unstretch all cells command in the context menu causes OnePager Pro to “normalize” all previously stretched or compress cells to their original Cell widths.

The Unstretch all cells command is shown below:

When the command is clicked, all stretched or compressed Time Axis Level Cells on all Time Axes and Floating Time Axes as shown in the illustration above are returned to their original widths and the Document’s width is returned back to its original size before any Time Axis Level Cells are stretched or compressed.

Another result of using the Unstretch all cells command is that any entries in The Grid related to stretched Time Axis Level Cells are deleted for the snapshot in the Chart Editor.

Using the Time Axis Right-Click Context Menu’s Insert Curtain Command

It can be advantageous from time to time to insert a Curtain into the chart that has exactly the same Start/End Date boundaries as a particular Time Axis Level Cell or Cells. For example, it may be necessary to highlight a particular Quarter as important in a schedule conversation. Time Axis Level Cell related Curtains can be added to the chart using the right-click on time axis right-click context menu and its Insert curtain command. To insert a Curtain with Time Axis Level Cell boundaries, first select the Cell or Cells to access the time axis right-click context menu as shown below:

When you click the Insert curtain command a basic Curtain is inserted into the chart with Start/End Date boundaries the same as those for the selected Time Axis Level Cell as shown here:

The Insert curtain command only creates a single Curtain. If multiple Time Axis Level Cells are selected, either in one Time Axis Level or multiple Levels, the Insert curtain command is disabled.

For more information on inserting curtains into the chart, please see the article at: Creating, Editing, and Managing Time Axis Daily Curtains for OnePager Pro

Notes on Selecting Time Axis Level Cells

Using a combination of the CTL+Left-Click and the SHIFT+Left-Click is restricted. You can use the CTL+Left-Click to select any Time Axis Level Cell in any Level. However, attempting to stretch a single Time Axis Level Cell when cells are selected in two or more Levels results in only the selected cell being stretched. The selected Time Axis Level Cells in the other Levels are de-selected.

You can use the SHIFT+Left-Click to select a series of Time Axis Level Cells that are all in the same Level. This results in a contiguous series of Time Axis Level Cells being selected all of which can be edited as one or stretched or compressed together. When you have a contiguous series of Time Axis Level Cells selected you can right-click on any one of them to access the time axis right-click context menu.

You can use the CTL+Left-Click in multiple Time Axis Levels and then any attempts to utilize the SHIFT+Left-Click only work if the contiguous Time Axis Level Cells being selected are in one Time Axis Level. Attempting to use the SHIFT+Left-Click across two or more Levels is not honored. For example, suppose you use the CTL+Left-Click to select several cells each in the Bottom Level Time Axis and the Middle Level Time Axis all the while holding the CTL Key down. This results in the clicked Time Axis Level Cells in the two Levels being selected.

Attempting to use the SHIFT+Left-Click in either the Bottom Level or the Middle Level Time Axes results in contiguous cells being selected. If, however, after multiple Time Axis Level Cells are selected in the Bottom and Middle Time Axis Levels, attempting to use the SHIFT+Left-Click in the Top Level Time Axis is not honored although the previously selected cells remain selected.