InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by gregory on 2017/08/09 11:59

I wonder if anyone has found a good way in which to carry out hierarchy calculations at the highest level in the hierarchy of items appearing in a grid? What I would like to be able to do is to sum together the values of a given field for items which are not hierarchical children, but are instead top level items TLI.

The specific application is that I have a field called Effort. I would like to be able to sum together the various values of Effort so that I know what my overall Backlog is.

There is already a Visual Basic function available in InfoQube:
Function mySum(IncludeIt, x) ' Calculates the sum of the array x if IncludeIt is true

Perhaps there is some way in which automatically to "clone" items which are TLI in one context such that they can be children in another? Any suggestions? Thanks!

Mark

Comments

Hi Mark,

Lots of options for this:

Pivot Table
Excel Link
Dummy Parent Item (either visible in the grid, as context parent, or not)
Item > Insert > New Sibling (when the dummy parent is not visible in the grid)
Select the Effort column, right-click > Info
I could also improve the column header tooltip to include such information
I could add an Info command to the column context menu, showing the same content as the item info

Take your pick...

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

Thanks for this reply, Pierre.

Suggestion	Reaction
Pivot Table	Depends on 64-bit issue
Excel Link	Depends on 64-bit issue
Dummy Parent Item (either visible in the grid, as context parent, or not)	The fact that items are not TLIs restricts other possibilities, notably how easy it is to reorder things. Probably the best bet, and the one I shall work with.
Item > Insert > New Sibling (when the dummy parent is not visible in the grid)	The fact that items are not TLIs restricts other possibilities, notably how easy it is to reorder things
Select the Effort column, right-click > Info	Requires a specific user action, which will probably be forgotten. Not what computers are for!
I could also improve the column header tooltip to include such information	Hmmm, I should have mentioned this long ago. Tooltips don't work, nor have they done so for a long while. Is there an option I should be setting? Or is this again an issue with this new computer (64-bit Windows 10)? Not a priority for most users?
I could add an Info command to the column context menu, showing the same content as the item info	Requires a specific user action, which will probably be forgotten. Not what computers are for! Not a priority for most users?

I'll create a dummy parent and see how much pain that gives me in other areas.

The 64-bit issue is the one mentioned in my earlier posts. I have now reverted to 32-bit Office on this PC but I still haven't succeeded in getting two features which have worked on another PC to work on this 64-bit Windows 10 machine.

One of these is live links to SQLlite database - which Armando challenged me to work on several weeks ago, then fully document. http://www.sqlnotes.net/drupal5/index.php?q=node/3959. Well, I have been trying - so far without sucess.

The other is Excel / Word links. See http://www.sqlnotes.net/drupal5/index.php?q=node/3963

I'll have another go at getting ODC to work properly and get back to you.

Mark GREGORY, Hull, England- GMT +0/+1; EST +5

Pierre, just a thought: might it be worth trying the installed version of InfoQube? Could this make a difference in terms of effective integration with Microsoft Office?

Mark GREGORY, Hull, England- GMT +0/+1; EST +5

Hi Mark

It should not make any difference. Both should work well. Let us explore the issues when you have some time

Pierre_Admin

IQ Designer

Adding a single top-level dummy / TLI - I've called it Root Priority in my Priority grid - seems to work fine. I can still sort as I wish after setting Grid / Sort / Sort items and sub-items.

A desirable enhancement would be a field ItemIsDisplayed, set true if an item meets the current filter criteria and is displayed. I would use this to enhance planning - e.g. calculating outstanding workload based on items that are displayed.

Mark GREGORY, Hull, England- GMT +0/+1; EST +5

[quote=gregory]

Adding a single top-level dummy / TLI - I've called it Root Priority in my Priority grid - seems to work fine. I can still sort as I wish after setting Grid / Sort / Sort items and sub-items.[/quote]

Are you just hoisting, and then usually displaying the grid in a normal outline mode?

I find the dummy item method not only works well for what you wanted to achieve, it's great for adding context. Meaning that when I have a grid for a dedicated project, if a dummy parent item is used to hold everything in the grid, then when those items are viewed in other grids they now show a (dummy) parent, usualy a project name, making it more clear what they relate to.