What's New with OnePager Release 7.0?

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Overview - New Features and Upgrades

OnePager Pro (OPP) and Express (OPX) version 7.0 provides two new capabilities and features, and six upgrades and enhancements that are summarized in this article.

These new capabilities and features are:

  • Multiple Swimlane Levels
  • The Smart Text Optimization Feature

The new upgrades and enhancements are:

  • Refreshed User Interface
  • Easier Timeline and Gantt Chart Layouts
  • Easier Text Editing
  • Advanced Swimlane Formatting
  • Advanced Text Column Formatting
  • Nomenclature Changes

The subsections below provide an overview and links to more detailed descriptions of the new upgraded capabilities, features, and enhancements:

New Features and Capabilities

Multiple Swimlane Levels

Previous versions of OnePager Pro and Express supported one swimlane level which allowed you to group rows together based on a particular source plan data field and its values.

About Multiple Swimlane Levels

OnePager Pro and Express version 7.0 now supports three swimlane levels which can be nested inside one another to better display a hierarchy relationship for a Program, its Projects, and their Phases as shown here:

P70-0 4-70-(20)-03102020.png

In the illustration above, the first swimlane level is “Program” and under it as the second swimlane level are its “Projects”. The third swimlane level under each “Project” are “Phases” and the rows within each Phase show the task bars at their appropriate start/end dates.

Definition and editing of these multiple swimlane levels is accomplished in the Template Properties and Chart Properties form’s Rows/Swimlanes tab that is modified to provide all the controls necessary to manage these multiple swimlane levels in the chart. The Rows/Swimlanes tab of the Chart Properties form is shown below:

P70-0 4-70-(21-1)-08282020.png

In addition to adding multiple swimlane levels, the tab shown above is simplified by reorganizing the controls associated with Rows and Text Columns.

Sorting controls for rows and swimlanes are in separate sub-control groups as shown above.

There is a Row Borders Formatting… button in the Rows control group with the controls for defining and global editing of row borders and access buttons for Swimlane Formatting… and Text Column Formatting…

The controls shown above for the Chart Properties form are also found in the distributed Template form’s Rows/Swimlanes tab.

More Information

Detailed information on the new Multiple Swimlane Levels feature can be found at these links:

Using Rows and Swimlanes
Creating and Editing Rows and Swimlanes (Portal)

Please take a moment to look at the Read More… article below which provides an introduction of these new Multiple Swimlane Levels feature with examples:

Read More... Multiple Swimlane Levels

The Smart Text Optimization Feature

About The Smart Text Optimization Feature

Previous versions of OnePager required you to re-position task bar name labels for task names in the chart when various editing actions caused task bar name labels to collide. That is, when the task bar name label overlays a task bar or other task bar name label and they become difficult to read in the chart or other output media. In such cases, you needed to select the task bar name label, go to the Home ribbon tool bar tab's Position control group, and select a new task bar name label position from those available in the dropdown list. Often, it required several selections and perhaps the creation of a task bar name label in a comment box and a few drag and drop actions before the task bar name label became more readable.

With OnePager 7.0 a new capability is provided called the Smart Text Optimization feature that recognizes these task bar name label collision situations during chart creation and updates and automatically attempts to take the task bar name label involved out of collision. Implementation of this new feature comes with three (3) additional task bar name label position options: Best fit all directions, Best fit above/below, Legacy best fit. The Legacy best fit option recognizes task bar name label positions from previous versions of OnePager Pro and Express. Also provided are a set of controls that give you options for establishing the priorities with which the text collision avoidance algorithm, as we call it, employs the feature for you.

Finally, there is a new command provided in the task bar right-click context menu and the task bar name label right-click context menu you can use to perform the text collision avoidance algorithm manually on selected task bars/milestone symbols that are involved in a task bar name label collision situation.

More Information

Detailed information on the new Smart Text Optimization feature can be found at these links:

Resolving Task Bar Name Label Collisions (Portal)
Task Labels for OnePager Pro
Task Bar Name Labels for OnePager Express

Please take a moment to look at the Read More… article below which provides an introduction of these new Text Collision Avoidance features with examples:

Read More... The Smart Text Optimization Feature.

Upgrades and Enhancements

Refreshed User Interface

About the Refreshed User Interface

The Refreshed User Interface is our enhancement to giving OnePager products a more up-to-date look and feel consistent with the latest versions of the Microsoft Office and other Project Scheduling software products interfacing with OnePager. This enhancement involves a modernization of the Chart Editor, its ribbon tool bar tabs, button Icons, various forms and sub-forms, dropdown menus/lists, and left-click and right-click context menus. In a similar way, all major forms such as the Chart Properties and Template Properties forms are modernized to be consistent throughout our product line and to make their control groups easier to identify. Additionally, other sub-forms were simplified to achieve the same goals.

More Information

Please take a moment to look at the Read More… article below which provides additional information on the new OnePager User Interface enhancements and some examples of the look and feel changes made to the Chart Editor and supporting forms.

Read More... Refreshed User Interface

Easier Timeline and Gantt Chart Layouts

About Timelines and Gantt Chart Layouts

In OnePager 7.0, the controls for selecting between a Gantt chart layout and the Timeline layout are more efficiently arranged. The Gantt chart layout is where task bars/milestone symbols are arranged one per row and the Timeline layout arranges the chart so that multiple task bars/milestone symbols occupy one row. The controls are located in the Template Properties and Chart Properties form's Rows/Swimlanes tab in the Rows control group as shown below:

P70-0 4-70-(1)-04232020.png

The underlying functionality has not changed from previous versions of OnePager. The new arrangement of these controls makes them easier to find and understand.

Please note in the illustration above that when the Timeline radio button is selected that the Align tasks on window is enabled as well as the Stagger overlapping tasks checkbox.

a) The Align tasks on window provides the dropdown list of Microsoft Project or Microsoft Excel fields that can be selected to group tasks in rows.
b) The Stagger overlapping tasks checkbox provides the option to add an additional row should one or more task bars overlap one another in a single row.

The illustration below shows the dropdown list available in the Align task on window:

P70-0 4-70-(2)-04232020.png

More Information

Please take a moment to look at the OnePager.com article at the link below which provides some examples of the new Refreshed User Interface features:

Read More... Easier Timeline and Gantt Chart Layouts

Easier Task Editing

About Easier Text Editing

Previous versions of OnePager grouped all text elements associated with a task bar or milestone symbols together. When task bars had text elements that you desired to separate to different label positions around the task bar several editing operations were required.

OnePager 7.0 makes this easier by employing the Label Position dropdown list of options on the OnePager Home ribbon tool bar tab. Since text elements can be individually selected with a left-click in OnePager 7.0, the Label Position dropdown list is enabled and you can reposition the text element to specific label position locations around the task bar/milestone symbol as needed. The Home ribbon tool bar's Label Position drop down list is shown below:

P70-0 4-70-(3)-04232020.png

More Information

Please take a moment to look at the OnePager.com article at the link below which provides some examples of the new Easier Text Editing features:

Read More... Easier Text Editing

Advanced Swimlane Formatting

About Swimlane Formatting

The new multiple swimlane feature is covered above. In OnePager 7.0 along with multiple swimlane levels are a set of controls (for each swimlane level) giving you the capability to control and format swimlane level column headings, the swimlane level column heading text and swimlane level borders.

The sub-form for these controls and formatting capabilities is called the Swimlane Formatting - Left #n form where the n is the swimlane level number. This sub-form is accessed by clicking the Swimlane Formatting ... button in the Template Properties or Chart Properties form's Rows/Swimlanes tab in the Swimlanes control group. The Chart Properties form's Rows/Swimlanes tab and the Swimlane Formatting - Left #1 form is shown below:

P70-0 4-70-(4)-04232020.png

More Information

Please take a moment to look at the OnePager.com article at the link below which provides some examples of the new Advanced Swimlane Formatting features:

Read More... Advanced Swimlane Formatting

Advanced Text Column Formatting

About Text Column Formatting

Implementing multiple swimlane levels in OnePager 7.0 provides an opportunity to make the controls for text column creation and editing more efficient and consistent with controls for multiple swimlane levels.

As with the multiple swimlane level controls, there is a new sub-form supporting formatting for text columns called the Text-Column Formatting - Left #n form accessed by clicking the Text Column Formatting ... button in the Template Properties or Chart Properties form's Rows/Swimlanes tab in the Text Column control group shown here:

P70-0 4-70-(5)-04232020.png

The sub-form for these controls and formatting capabilities is called the Text-Column Formatting - Left #n form where the n is the text column number.

The controls in this sub-form support the following text column, text column heading, text column cell, and row editing features:

  • Setting Text Column Cell Background Colors - Background color
  • Changing Text Column Cell Backgrounds Manually - Background color 1 and Background color 2
  • Changing the Source Plan Field Used for Text Columns
  • Changing Individual Values in a Text Column - Font properties
  • Changing Text Column Headings Manually

More Information

Please take a moment to look at the OnePager.com article at the link below which provides some examples of the new Advanced Text Column Formatting features:

Read More... Advanced Text Column Formatting

Nomenclature Changes

In the process of producing OnePager 7.0 we responded to our customers by making changes to our terminology usage. We changed the terminology used to refer to the principle graphic output of OnePager from project view to chart. We did this because the great majority of our customers use OnePager to produce what they call charts and rarely us the term project view when referencing the output products of OnePager in their schedule conversations.

In this document (Wiki), the word chart replaces the term project-view. To be consistent with the change to the word chart, we changed the name of the Project-View Properties (PVP) form to Chart Properties form. Finally, under this terminology change, the Project View Editor (PVE) becomes the Chart Editor everywhere in this Wiki document.

Please take a moment to look at the OnePager.com article at the link below about the Nomenclature Changes for OnePager 7.0:

Read More... Nomenclature Changes

New Rules for Selection of Task Bars, Milestone Symbols, and Name Labels in the Chart

As part of the Smart Task/Milestone Text Labeling feature's implementation introduced in OnePager 7.0, we changed the rules for task bars and task bar name labels manual left-click and right-click selection as follows:

Left-Click Selection Rules

To select a task bar or milestone symbol in OnePager 7.0, left-click the task bar or milestone symbol itself.

To select the task bar's or milestone symbols name label left-click the name label only.

Right-Click Selection Rules

A right-click on a task bar or milestone symbol accesses a context menu with commands that are associated with edits to the task bar or milestone symbol itself.

A right-click on a task bar's or milestone symbol's name label accesses a specific context menu tailored with commands that are for edits to the name label.

When a set of task bars and/or milestone symbols and their associated name labels are in a name label collision situation, a right-click accesses the context menu with a command to invoke the text label collision avoidance algorithm which is Re-optimize text collisions.

Select Associated Text Checkbox Usage

Since these new rules represent a change from previous versions of OnePager with respect to selecting task bars or milestone symbols and their name labels, OnePager 7.0 provides a option for setting the behavior of task bar or milestone symbol selection to that of previous versions.

This option is controlled by a checkbox in the Advanced tab of the Template and Chart Properties forms in the Display options control group called Select associated text shown here:

P70-0 4-70-(6-1)-08282020.png

The default setting in the checkbox is checked OFF. Checking this checkbox to ON changes the behavior of a left-click on a task bar/milestone symbol such that the left-click selects both the task bar/milestone symbol and the text label.

Regardless of the setting in the Select associated text checkbox, there is no difference in how the right-click on a task bar/milestone symbol and/or text label operates.

Changes to Task Bar/Milestone Symbol and Text Label Right-Click Context Menus

The changes to task bar and milestone symbol and name label selection described above offers an opportunity to simplify the context menus .

The right-click on task bar or milestone symbol right-click context menu as well as the task bar or milestone symbol name label right-click context menus contain commands available in previous versions of OnePager with the addition of a new command associated with the Smart Task/Milestone Text Labeling feature - the Re-optimize text collisions command as shown below for the task bar name label right-click context menu:

P70-0 4-70-(7)-04232020.png

This new context menu command is explained in greater detail in the Wiki articles referenced below.

The right click on a task bar or milestone symbol has a context menu that allows you to edit the task bar or milestone symbol and to access the Change Task/Milestone Properties form shown here: .

P70-0 4-70-(8)-04232020.png

More Information

Detailed articles on the new Task Bars/Milestone Symbol and Name Label Selection rules can be found at this link: Selecting Task/Milestone Shapes and Text Labels

Please take a moment to look at the Read More… article below which provides an introduction of these new Task Bars/Milestone Symbol and NameLabel Selection rules with examples below:

Read More... New Task/Milestone Shape and Text Label Selection Rules .

Related Links

New Task/Milestone Shape and Text Label Selection Rules

Selecting Task/Milestone Shapes and Text Labels

Resolving Task Bar Name Label Collisions (Portal)

Task Labels for OnePager Pro

Task Bar Name Labels for OnePager Express

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