Difference between revisions of "The Non-Linear Time Axis Feature for OnePager Express for Version 7.0"

Revision as of 17:26, 13 November 2019

Overview

1) Previous versions of OnePager Express provided three (3) Time Axes with all the Cells in each Time Axis set at a uniform width as a function of the timespan and the width of the graph.

2) This “Linear” Time Axes implementation was sufficient for most presentations where the focus in the graph spans its entire timeline.

3) That is, there is important information in the graph from left to right and top to bottom.

4) There are schedule presentation requirements where it is necessary to focus attention on a narrower portion of the graph but to do so can require more horizontal space in the graph itself.

5) In this circumstance, being able to widen one or more Time Axis Level Cells to provide more horizontal space for focus, unobstructed views of Comment Boxes, or Free Boxes is beneficial to accomplishing the presentation’s goals.

6) OnePager Express provides this capability as part of the Time Axis Upgrade in the form of the Non-Linear Time Axis feature presented in this article.

7) With the Non-Linear Time Axis feature you can use the Template form and Chart Properties forms in their Time Axis tab Format sub-tab to create and edit Time Axis Level Cells with different widths by using The Grid provided in the sub-tab.

8) You can edit the widths of individually selected Time Axis Level Cells by using the new Time Axis Cell Properties form

9) You can also use drag and drop methods to manually edit the widths (by stretching or compressing) of Time Axis Level Cells as required for your presentation.

The New Non-Linear Time Axis Feature – An Example

10) Below is an example of a chart going to be configured with a Non-Linear Time Axis representation for the Bottom Time Axis Level.

11) First the original Bottom Time Axis Level representation with the Cell to be stretched selected with a left-click is shown in the chart portion below:

12) After stretching the January 2020 Time Axis Level Cell to the right with the drag and drop method, the chart looks like this:

13) Note that the stretching of the Bottom Time Axis Level (January 2020) is accompanied with a stretching of the Middle Level and Top Level as shown in the example above.

14) Additionally, any task/milestones within the stretched timespans also are stretched.

15) You can select multiple Time Axis Level Cells using the CTL+Left-Click method in a single or in multiple Time Axis Levels.

16) Selecting a single Time Axis Level Cell in any Time Axis Level allows you to further right-click on the selected Cell, access the Time Axis Level’s context menu, and use any of the Format cell… command in the context menu as shown below:

17) Selecting multiple Time Axis Level Cells in any Time Axis Level and right-clicking on any selected Cells also accesses the context menu where most of the context menu’s command can be used.

18) Selecting multiple Time Axis Level Cells in different Time Axis Levels with the intent of stretching all the selected Cells is not supported.

19) If this is attempted, OnePager only stretches those selected Time Axis Level Cells in the Time Axis Level where you used the mouse to stretch one of the selected Cells.

20) Time Axis Level Cells in other Time Axis Levels are de-selected before the stretch drag and drop operation is started.

21) More information on the above techniques is available in the sections that follow and at this article link: Showing and Hiding Time Axis Levels and Cells for OnePager Express - Formatting Individual Time Axis Level Cells. 22.3.4-70

Creating Non-Linear Timespans in the Chart

Creating Non-Linear Timespans in the Chart Properties Form's Time Axis Tab Format Sub-tab’s Grid

1) The discussion in this section and in following sections references The Grid several times.

2) It is recommended that you review the available material on The Grid to enhance your understanding at this reference link: Showing and Hiding Time Axis Levels and Cells for OnePager Express – Understanding The Grid. 22.3.4-70

Creating Non-Linear Timespans - An Example

3) Suppose you are interested in detailed activities in a one month period and want to stretch certain time periods within that month.

4) You can add a Timespan entry to The Grid to accomplish this as follows:

5) Below is a chart the example timespan month stretched to help illustrate the feature:

6) As stated in the above illustration, the requirement is to expand the time period beginning June 4, 2018 to June 11, 2018 (Week 23) to 300 percent (%) of the original width of the inclusive days.

7) To do this, first use the Chart Properties form Time Axis tab’s Format sub-tab to access The Grid which is empty and click the Add Timespan button as shown below:

8) With the Timespan entry in The Grid, the From Date and To Date were changed to 6/4/2018 and 6/11/2018.

a) These settings cover from midnight 6/4/2018 through midnight on 6/11/2018 or a full week.

b) Then change the contents of the Zoom% cell to 300%.

c) After you do this, the form looks like this:

d) When you click the Apply or OK button in the Chart Properties form, the chart looks like this with the Added Timespan stretched to 300%:

9) You can easily verify this by making two simple alterations to the Middle and Bottom Time Axis Level’s scales.

10) That is, editing the Middle Time Axis Level to show Weeks and the Bottom Time Axis Level to show Days as shown here:

11) The above chart segment shows the three days intended to be stretched at the correct width.

Creating Non-Linear Timespans Using Manual Drag and Drop Method

12) The following example illustrates a use of the drag and drop method when editing the width of timespans:

13) Suppose you have a simple source plan and want to draw your audience’s attention to timespans of special interest as shown below:

14) Preparing a standard chart from this source plan with uniform Time Axis Level Cells, then making a few readability modifications, and highlighting the periods of special interest, provides a chart something like this:

15) Since Quarters 3 and 4 of 2018 and Quarter 4 of 2019 are important to the schedule conversation, those Timespans can be stretched manually using a drag and drop method on selected Time Axis Level Cells.

16) To do this, left-click on the Middle Level Time Axis Level Cell for 2018 Quarter 3 to select it and use the handlebars that appear to drag the handlebar to the right the equivalent of another Quarter.

17) Repeat the process for 2018 Quarter 4 and 2019 Quarter 4. When these three drag and drop editing actions are complete, the chart looks like this:

18) Comparing the before chart with the chart after stretching the three Quarterly Time Axis Level Cells, you see that:

19) The Start and Finish Date boundaries for the chart did not change although the scale of the chart on the screen and in any output media changed.

20) The Time Axis Level Cells in the Bottom and Top Time Axe Levels are stretched to correspond with the stretching actions taken in the Middle Level.

21) The widths of Time Axis Level Cells outside of the stretched Cells remain unchanged although there is a scale change to correspond to the change for the chart as a whole.

22) Tasks in the graph occupying the stretched timespans are correspondingly stretched but task Start/End Date boundaries are not changed relative to the stretched timespans.

23) Portions of tasks that are outside the stretched timespans are not stretched and properly sit on their appropriate Start and End Date boundaries.

24) Decorations that appear inside stretched tasks such as baselines, critical path segments, and percent complete segments are proportionally stretched to occupy the same relative horizontal linear space within the task.

25) Decorations that appear outside of stretched tasks such as Task Labels, Date Labels, Deadlines, and Endpoints are not stretched.

26) Task Links (not shown above) are also proportionally adjusted to conform to the stretched timespans.

27) Free Boxes and task Comment Boxes are not stretched.

28) Task Label Font Properties are not changed for those tasks shown in stretched timespans.

29) Curtains occupying stretched timespans are horizontally stretched to retain their defined Curtain Start and End Date boundaries.

30) Background images in the graph are not resized regardless of where they appear within a stretched timespans.

31) These modifications to the stretched Time Axis Level Cells involved provides graphic ways to emphasize these important timespans

Creating Non-Linear Timespans Using the Time Axis Cell Properties Form

32) An individual or group of Time Axis Level Cells can also be manually edited by right-clicking on the Cell or Cells and selecting the Format cell… command from the context menu as shown below:

33) Clicking the Format cell… button accesses the Time Axis Cell Properties form:

34) In this form you can modify the selected Cell or Cells background color and Font properties as in previous versions of OnePager Pro.

35) Clicking the Color dropdown accesses the Standard Color Chooser form and clicking the Font dropdown accesses the Standard Font properties form.

36) With respect to making edits to the Cell width property in the above form, the Zoom% window is only enabled if, when selecting multiple Cells, all are in the same Time Axis Level.

37) If multiple Cells are selected in different Time Axis Levels, the Zoom% control is disabled.

38) You cannot set the Zoom% value window to zero (0) or less. Attempting this causes OnePager to reset the Zoom% value in the Time Axis Cell Properties form’s Zoom% window to a Zoom% value of 2.0 percent.

39) You cannot set the Zoom% value greater than 1,000% either. Doing so causes OnePager to reset the value back to 1,000%.

40) If multiple Cells are in different Time Axis Levels, you can modify all selected Cells with respect to Background color and Font properties.

41) The Cell width window in the form is for informational purposes only.

42) When you make edits with the Zoom% control window, the Cell width window is updated to reflect the width of the Cell in the linear measure you’ve selected based on your in either English or Metric units depending on the type of Template you are using (e.g., inches or centimeters).

43) Additionally, since the Fill Pattern is a property of the Time Axis Level, it cannot be edited individually for a single Time Axis Level Cell. Editing the Fill Pattern must be done in the Chart Properties form.

44) For more information on edits to Time Axis Level Fill Patterns, please see the article at: Changing the Time Axis Background Color and Fill Pattern for OnePager Express. 22.1.4-70

45) Making any of the edits described above to an individual Time Axis Level Cell or Cells makes them all mavericks.

46) You can reset the default properties of a modified Time Axis Level Cell or Cells by clicking the Use default properties button in the Time Axis Cell Properties form.

47) This action resets the selected Cell’s properties back to those currently set in the Chart Properties form.

Unstretch All Cells After Creating Non-Linear Timespans

1) In the examples above, Non-Linear timespans are created.

2) If it is unpractical to use the UNDO feature in OnePager to return to true linear timespans, where all Time Axis Level Cells are the same width, the Unstretch all cell command in the Time Axis right-click context menu shown below can be used.

3) To unstretch all cells, right-click on any Time Axis Level Cell and click the Unstretch all cells command as shown above.

4) Caution: The Unstretch all cells command, when clicked, operates on the entire Time Axis at all Levels.

5) This is necessary because often, if not always, stretching a selected Cell at one Level causes Cells above and below to stretch as well.

6) Accordingly, when you select Unstretch all cells command, all Time Axis Level Cells become uniform in width in their own Time Axis Level.

7) Clicking the Unstretch all cells returns the previously stretched or compressed Time Axis Level Cells to their original width and restores the Document’s width to its original size.

8) The unstretch procedure is inclusive for all Time Axis Levels starting with the Top Level, then the Middle Level, and finally the Bottom Level.

9) If the chart contains one or more Floating Time Axes, they are unstretched to match the corresponding Cells of each Time Axis Level.

10) Please see the article on Floating Time Axes for more information at this link: The Floating Time Axis Feature for OnePager Express. 22.3.10-70

11) After the Unstretch all cells command is used, the Time Axis for our example looks like this:

Using the Insert Curtain Command

1) 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.

2) For example, it can be necessary to highlight a particular Quarter as important in a schedule conversation as shown further below.

3) Time Axis Level Cell related Curtains can be added to the chart using the right-click on Time Axis Level Cell context menu and clicking the Insert curtain command.

4) To insert a Curtain with Time Axis Level Cell boundaries, first select the Cell or Cells to access the Time Axis context menu as shown below:

5) 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(s) as shown here:

6) The Insert curtain context menu command only creates a single Curtain.

7) If multiple Time Axis Level Cells are selected, either in one Time Axis Level or multiple Levels, the Insert curtain command is disabled.

8) An Inserted Curtain can be edited by right-clicking on it to access the Curtain context menu as shown below:

9) The commands in the above context menu operate in the same ways as context menu commands for all other Curtains.

10) For more information on Creating and Managing Curtains, please see the article at: Creating and Managing Curtains. 16.0.1-70

11) When a Curtain is created using the Insert curtain command, a Curtain Type entry is added into The Grid.

12) The Grid with the Inserted Curtain is shown below:

13) To edit an Inserted Curtain, you can access the Curtain Properties form in one of two ways:

14) Using the above illustration as a guide, you can click the Properties button in The Grid entry for the Inserted Curtain to access the Curtain Properties form as shown below:

15) The other method for accessing the Curtain Properties form is to right-click on the Inserted Curtain itself to access the context menu and click the Properties … command as shown below:

16) For more information on Inserted Curtains, please see the article at: Creating, Editing, and Managing Time Axis Daily Curtains for OnePager Express. 22.5.6-70

Formatting Individual Time Axis Level Cells

1) Time Axis Level Cells as well as Floating Time Axis Level Cells can be Formatted by right-clicking on the selected Cell(s) to access the context menu shown below:

2) 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):

3) Making any edits to the selected Time Axis Level Cells using the Time Axis Cell Properties form only edits these selected Cells.

4) After the edits are made, the selected Cells are considered mavericks.

5) 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 Express.

6) Instead, OnePager sets the Zoom% value for entries values less than or equal to zero to a Zoom% value of 2.0 percent.

7) Re-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 restores the selected Cells to the global properties established in the Chart Properties form.

Creating Non-Linear Time Axis Level Cells with the Drag and Drop Method

8) 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:

9) 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:

10) You can use Time Axis Level Cell 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:

11) 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:

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

13) Although there are five(5) Time Axis Level Cells selected above, you can only stretch or compress selected Cells using the drag and drop method in one Time Axis Level only.

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

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

16) 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:

17) 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:

18) The general rule is that you cannot stretch multiple Time Axis Level Cells that are selected in multiple Time Axis Levels.

Notes on Selecting Time Axis Level Cells

19) Using a combination of the CTL+Left-Click and the SHIFT+Left-Click is restricted.

20) The following rules apply:

21) You can use the CTL+Left-Click to select any Time Axis Level Cell in any Level.

22) 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.

23) The selected Time Axis Level Cells in other Levels are de-selected.

24) You can use the SHIFT+Left-Click to select a series of Time Axis Level Cells that are all in the same Level.

25) 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.

26) When you have a contiguous series of Time Axis Level Cells selected you can right-click on any one of them to access the context menu.

27) 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.

28) Attempting to use the SHIFT+Left-Click across two or more Levels is not honored.

29) 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.

30) This results in the clicked Time Axis Level Cells in the two Levels being selected.

31) Attempting to use the SHIFT+Left-Click in either the Bottom Level or the Middle Level Time Axes results in contiguous cells being selected.

32) 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.

Non-Linear Time Axis Cells and The Floating Time Axis Feature

1) The new OnePager Floating Time Axis feature is covered in the article at: The Floating Time Axis Feature for OnePager Express. 22.3.10-70

2) However, the relationship between the Non-Linear Time Axis and the Floating Time Axis features needs to be covered here as well.

3) As a general rule, whenever an edit is made to a Time Axis Level Cell(s) and there is a corresponding Floating Time Axis Level with corresponding cells in the chart, any edit to the Time Axis Level Cell(s) is also made to the Floating Time Axis Cell(s). The converse is also true.

The Grid and Floating Time Axis Cells

4) As mentioned above, The Grid found in the Template and Chart Properties forms Time Axis tab Format sub-tab is used to define timespans and their widths in the example below.

5) When the chart contains a Floating Time Axis Level Cell(s) that are included in the Timespan entry being considered for The Grid, that Floating Time Axis Level Cell(s) are widened to remain consistent with the same Time Axis Level Cell(s) as the example below illustrates:

6) Suppose we have the chart that contains three Floating Time Axis Levels corresponding to the three Time Axis Levels and desire to widen the Time Axis Level Cells corresponding to Quarter 1 of 2019 using The Grid to modify the timespan to a Zoom% of 300 percent as shown in The Grid entry below:

7) After you click OK or Apply in the Chart Properties form, OnePager edits the chart by widening the 2019 Quarter 1 timespan in the Time Axis and in the Floating Time Axis as shown here:

Manual Editing of Time Axis Level Cells and the Floating Time Axis

8) When Floating Time Axis Level Cells are present in the chart and you select Time Axis Level Cells for editing using the Format cell… command in the context menu and the Time Axis Cell Properties form to achieve the same Quarter 1 2019 timespan widening to 300%, the same edit is applied to the corresponding Floating Time Axis Level Cells as shown in the example below:

9)Using the same chart as in the previous example, right-click the 2019 Quarter 1 Time Axis Level Cell to access the context menu and then click the Format cell… command to access the Time Axis Cell Properties form where you can edit the Zoom% dial to 300% as shown below:

10) After you change the Zoom% to 300.0%, the Cell width widow updates to show the new cell width in standard units.

11) When you click the OK button on the Time Axis Cell Properties form, the chart is updated to reflect the new 2019 Quarter 1 Time Axis Level Cell and Floating Time Axis Cell width of 300% as shown below:

Drag and Drop Method for Editing of Time Axis Level Cells and the Floating Time Axis

12) You are also able to keep the any Floating Time Axis Level Cells consistent with Time Axis Level Cells that have their widths edited using the drag and drop method.

13) In this case using the drag and drop method on selected Time Axis Level Cells to change their width correspondingly does the same for equivalent Floating Time Axis Level Cells and vice versa.

14) The same sample chart is used below to illustrate this feature.

15) Using the previously considered chart and the desire to widen Quarter 1 2019 to 300% Zoom%, you only have to select the Quarter 1 2019 Time Axis Level Cell to get the handlebars to appear and use the mouse to pull the handlebar to the right until the width of the selected Cell approximates a Zoom% of 300 percent as shown below:

16) After dragging the mouse to the right and then releasing the mouse right click at the desired location, the chart looks like this:

17) You can check on the actual Zoom% value achieved by the drag and drop method shown above by selected the widened 2019 Quarter 1 Middle Time Axis Level Cell, right-click on it to access the context menu and then select the Format cell… command to access the Time Axis Cell Properties form to query the Zoom% dial’s value as shown below:

18) In the example shown above, the actual Zoom% value realized is 303.0 percent, a reasonable result using the visual drag and drop method to widen the selected Middle Time Axis Level Cell.

19) The action also resulted in the widening of the corresponding Middle Floating Time Axis Level Cell.

Editing Action on Floating Time Axis Cells Edits Corresponding Time Axis Level Cells

20) Actions taking on Time Axis Level Cells as illustrated by the previous two examples can be performed on Floating Time Axis Level Cells to achieve the same results on both Floating Time Axis Level Cells and Time Axis Level Cells.

21) These corresponding interrelated results can be expected for other edits made to Floating Time Axis Cells and Time Axis Level Cells such as edits to cell color and text font properties.

22) These edits when made to Floating Time Axis Cells are automatically applied to the corresponding Time Axis Level Cells wherever the Time Axis Level Cells happen to be located (e.g., either at the top or the bottom of the chart).

23) Additionally, if there are multiple instances of Floating Time Axis Levels in several locations within the chart, all edits made to Time Axis Cells are applied to the corresponding Floating Time Axis Level Cells.

24) The converse is also true. Any single edit to a Floating Time Axis Cell when there are multiple corresponding Floating Time Axis Level Cells in the chart applies the edit all Floating Time Axis Cells and the corresponding Time Axis Level Cells.

Saving Non-Linear Time Axis Setting in the Template Form

1) OnePager helps you save the settings for a chart as a new Template form with a Template name of your choosing.

2) This can be done any time after creating or editing a chart by clicking the Copy to Template button on the OnePager ribbon’s Home tab as shown below:

3) If your chart contains Non-Linear Time Axis Level Cells, these settings in The Grid are copied to the new Template form as entries in The Grid, and saved.

4) When the Template form you previously saved is used to create a NEW chart that chart shows the Non-Linear Time Axis Level Cells you previously created in their stretched or compressed configuration when this Template form was saved.

5) In the saved Template form, the Non-Linear Time Axis Level Cells are represented in The Grid as shown in the example below:

6) When the above Template form is again used, any Time Axis Level Cells that are between the From Date and To Date are displayed as Non-Linear Time Axis Level Cells in the new or updated chart.

7) Editing any of the corresponding settings in the Chart Properties form’s Time Axis tab’s Format sub-tab does not change the corresponding settings in the Template form.

8) The previously established Template form settings can be edited in the Template form but the form must be resaved so that the edited settings are available for subsequent use the next time this Template form is used to represent Non-Linear Time Axis Level Cells.

Non-Linear Timespans Are Snapshot-Independence

1) It is a rule that Non-Linear Time Axis Level Cells are snapshot-independent regardless if they are created by manual drag and drop methods applied to the Time Axis Level or if they are created as a Timespan entry in The Grid.

2) Since timespans are snapshot-independent, OnePager 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.

3) As a suggestion, it is recommended that you review the relationship between charts and snapshots in this article: Understanding Charts and Snapshots for OnePager Express. 4.0.1.2-70

Related Links

Understanding Charts and Snapshots for OnePager Express 4.0.1.2-70

Showing and Hiding Time Axis Levels and Cells for OnePager Express 22.3.4-70

Creating and Managing Curtains 16.0.1-6

Creating, Editing, and Managing Time Axis Daily Curtains for OnePager Express 22.5.6-70

The Floating Time Axis Feature for OnePager Express 22.3.10-70

Changing the Time Axis Background Color and Fill Pattern for OnePager Express 22.1.4-70

(22.3.8-70)