InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by Jon on 2013/01/03 13:39

I'm trying to create and manage several projects. So far everything is going well with regard to IQ. However, I seem to be unable to accurately or reliably resize a gantt bar. I have to rely on typing or selecting the dates from TaskEnd or TastStart fields. I also noticed that I have to refresh the grid manually to see the results in the gantt chart. Also, after selecting dates as described above, any attempt to re-size the gantt bar results in an unwanted date. What's up?

Jon

Comments

Just checking. Should I assume nobody else has a problem with this?

Jon

Not necessarily. I don't know the first thing about gantt bars, don't use them, don't know how to use them. If I figure it out, I'll test for the problem here.

I'm in the same boat as Jan ...

I'll look into this issue first thing on monday morning !

Thank you Pierre. I appreciate it and look forward to your findings.

Jon

I'm unable to reproduce the issue. 2 questions:

Does it occur on a fresh IQBase ?
Do you have 2 instances of the same grid open at once ?

[quote=Pierre_Admin]

I'm unable to reproduce the issue. 2 questions:

Does it occur on a fresh IQBase ?
Do you have 2 instances of the same grid open at once ?

[/quote]

1. For me, yes it does. It has the same behavior if I try this with a new, blank database or my existing database (this is the one that I should be using).

2. No.

Jon

A few more questions:

In a fresh IQBase, open the Projects grid. The issue is present ?
When you first open the Projects grid, does it initially work and after some time start to fail or it never works (updating the gantt when changing a date field) ?
Which date field are you changing ?
Are you editing in the grid or using the properties pane ?

1. If I start with a new blank database, yes the problem is present. with the blank database, I have to create a project grid, but the problem is there. If I create a new database with sample data, then the problem is absent. HOWEVER, in all instances the first time I create a TLI in the projects grid and then try to create an SLI immediately (I press enter, then tab), IQ freezes and has to be restarted. After that, I can add SLIs and new TLIs without any problem.

2. I have not worked extensively with the pre-defined project grid as supplied with the sample database. With this limited experience, all I can offer is that it appears to work as expected while the others do not. All of my other project grids fail immediately. By that I mean that I cannot drag a time frame because after doing so, the time alters. The only way to set it correctly is to key in the information under task start and task end. To sum, there is the problem with the SLI as mentioned above and there is the inability to set the gantt bars correctly by dragging.

3. I'm not understanding the question. The issue is not present if I manually enter data in the date field (in my case either task start of task end). It occurs only if I try to set the time span by drawing a ba rin the gantt chart.

4. The grid.

Jon

Pierre, perhaps providing you with the steps I've taken will help you with this.

1. Create a new, BLANK database.

2. Create a Project grid. The relevant setup information is as follows:

Source: Projects
Fields automatically to be assigned to all TLI: Projects
Start date field: TaskStart
End date field: TaskEnd
Duration field: TaskDuration
Percent done field: Task%Complete
Effort in days field: TaskEffort
Show overview: Yes (ticked)
Show overview zoom buttons: Yes (ticked)
Non working days: Saturday, Sunday
Non working hours: 7PM to 7AM inclusive

3. Because of the problems with bar creation by dragging, I have the following columns displayed:

TaskStart
TaskEnd
Task%Complete
NextTaskID

4. Activate the gantt view and size it accordingly. I have it zoomed to days.

5. Create a project name (it is the first TLI).

6. Press enter then immediately press tab to create the first SLI. If you do it quickly enough, IQ will freeze. If I wait about a second before pressing tab, I may avoid the freeze. This problem does not recur for me after restarting IQ.

7. Create several SLI tasks. I named then simply, 1, 2, 3, and 4.

8. Try scheduling a task by dragging the cursor in the gantt chart. For task 1, I dragged from February 1 at 12:00 to February 10 at 12:00. It looked good for about a second then changed to February 6 at 5:00AM to February 8 at 7:00PM.

9. I also see that clearing all dates and times from the SLIs does not clear the bar from the TLI. In other words, clearing the dates and times from task 1 has no effect on the TLI gantt display.

Does this help?

Jon

Got it! Pierre, there is something in the equations for TaskStart and TaskEnd that alters drawn bars in the chart. Manually entering the data in the respective fields appears to work, but drawing does not. I can accurately and reliably draw bars if I turn off the equations for both fields.

I will have to examine the equations in the sample database to see what, if anything, is different.

Jon

Turning off the hierarchy equations for TaskStart and TaskEnd is a good idea. Those were set before IQ supported summary bars. Unless I'm mistaken, they no longer have any use.. I've updated the sample IQBase.

(also, I don't see any point in having a row equation for TaskStart)

Pierre, I turned the row equations off and it seemed to work, but I'd like you to confirm that other fields are not functionally affected. If I turn the hierarchy equations off as you did, then the TLI bar (in my case, Test Project 1) will not calculate or show the time range of the project.

Can you please explain why this works as expected with the sample database but not mine or any blank ones? The equations and settings appear the same.

Since it works in the sample database, what really needs your attention are the equations in the new blank database.

Finally, there is that matter of IQ freezing up (mentioned earlier).

Jon

There is really no longer a need for the hierarchy equations. To indicate that a bar is a summary bar (hence its start / stop set by its sub-items), select the bar and in the Gantt menu, select "is a summary bar"

As for the IQ freeze, I was able to reproduce it once, but not in the dev. environment, so I'll keep an eye for it, but can't promise anything for the next version.

[quote=Pierre_Admin]

There is really no longer a need for the hierarchy equations.

[/quote]

OK, but turning this off and leaving the row equations on does not resolve the problem I have described. It only gets resolved when the row equations for TaskStart and TaskEnd are turned off.

Jon