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I repost with I hope downloadable images...
I am currenlty using crystal report in my job, just to see what it looks like:
It combines 2 importants things :
* 1/ A graphic tool where you can place your items.
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/9181/crystaluu.jpg[^]
-HEADER
-DATA GROUPS / DETAIL
-FOOTER
for example, you could say:
-HEADER : Somme general info, a logo, etc...
-GROUP1 : ALLOCATED TO
-GROUP2 : PRIORITY
-DETAIL1 : TASK INFO
Which mean I want to see tasks info by 'allocated to' then by priority.
On each level, I can graphically add titles, free text, picture,
At group level I can add some formula where you can group info (like using the SQL GROUP BY info). Ex : nb of tasks by priority for example, or sum(TIME SPENT)
At the deeper level (DETAIL), I put the task fields.
* 2/ For formula, it means a script language
http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/1723/scriptm.jpg[^]
You can also create static charts.
I'm wondering if it exists some 'free' simple tool to do this that you could link with todolist ? Because write such a tool is not a piece of cake!
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laurentbosc wrote: Because write such a tool is not a piece of cake! I agree, which is why I'm thinking of a simpler solution at present. Something that combines the standard selection widgets from, say, the print dialog, together with the filter bar and the choice of a layout style, such as 'tabular', etc. I'll mock something up and post an image.
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Hello Dan,
I submit a new request regarding custom fields : the ability to have icon, based on a condition (Like in excel)
It could be useful for 2 things for example:
* Represent the trend of a task with arrow icons (for example :1 = up arrow, 2=right arrow, 3= down arrow)
* Represent a task based on the PDCA (Plan/Do/Check/Act) wheel (called deming cycle).
Actually, the priority column is a kind of example of a field with conditional icon, but instead having a color square, it could be a choosed icon reagrding a condition (our own icons would be fantastic).
Thank you
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laurentbosc wrote: I submit a new request regarding custom fields : the ability to have icon, based on a condition (Like in excel)
If I am not mistaken, this is related conceptually to the following thread: http://www.codeproject.com/Messages/4234598/Re-Feature-request-checklists-with-checkable-check.aspx
Instead of a list containing icons directly (as discussed previously), each member of the list is instead associated with an icon. The data entry is achieved using the list values (i.e. text), while the corresponding icon is represented in the task grid.
I agree this would be very useful, and would be a better option than the previously suggested method.
zajchap
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It's a great idea imo!
It looks obvious but I've never thought about it.
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What do Excel's expressions look like?
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Same problem with images.
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Sorry, i ll send you attached file asap
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I'll re-post your images when i get them, just so others can comment too.
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First thanks for the tool. Appreciated.
When I click on a task row and want to change a category, I need to navigate to the bottom where the task attributes can be edited. I am wondering if in-cell editing is possible. I mean, just like title, if can select the category "cell" for a particular
task, I want to be able to edit it right there instead of going to the bottom pane
Some other user also reported this confusion. "I can't add categories" - but finally figured that he/she needs to use the bottom pane.
Thanks
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d gorti wrote: I want to be able to edit it right there instead of going to the bottom pane I hear you.
Unfortunately that would make it much harder to support editing of multiple tasks concurrently, and would significantly slow down the implementation of plugin 'views'.
Perhaps in the future.
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I'm still looking for feedback on the subject of Reporting.
Surely some of you out there must have to produce weekly or monthly reports for your managers. After all, we all know how much managers love their reports!
I guess that at present people are just querying the time-tracking csv file...
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I will post mine when I get my PC back from the shop.
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I am unsure what you are referring to. Did I miss the original post, or is this from way back?
Are you asking about what we report, how we report, or in what situations?
I generate some simple reports monthly, to go over what is coming up in the team plan, with my staff. I have set up my own reports to do this.
The reporting function works well enough for me in this regard.
I also generate a version of the report to show everything completed in the month been (same report, different filter).
I still intend to send you the main reports I have created. I have finally sorted the problems I encountered when trying to make the reports more 'general use'. A wee bit of tidying to do this weekend and that is it.
zajchap
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One of the feature requests is here[^].
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Thanks. That seems like aaages ago, but isn't really.
Overall, printing and exporting works well enough for me now.
I agree that reporting is slightly weak, but I have now created reports to use with the correct detail and look. I ended up teaching myself a bit of xml and xsl in the process. It was fun, but probably not for everyone.
When/if I ever get to monitoring time for tasks / categories, I will probably look at the calculated time report, but haven't to date.
I am not sure how you could make the reporting easier though, and I am not sure how having an export module might change this. Is the thought to do away with stylesheets?
On a related(?) note, when exporting to csv, the results are all put into a single column, with attributes (unsurprisingly) separated by commas. I'm sure it used to put the attributes into separate columns. Or am I imagining things?
To get it into columns you have to save the file (it opens automatically in excel when you export), then close and re-open. The excel text import wizard then starts, and you can do your thing.
Is this something to do with how my excel settings?
zajchap
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zajchapp wrote: I agree that reporting is slightly weak, but I have now created reports to use with the correct detail and look. I ended up teaching myself a bit of xml and xsl in the process. It was fun, but probably not for everyone.
Being the one who started the thread I should apologize for not following up. Unfortunately certain family matters have recently taken up much more of my available time for TDL.
A prerequisite to teach myself xml and xsl in order to produce reports is tough and most probably very time consuming to achieve. I would look forward to a report generating method where, for example, in addition to being able to choose which fields to display, the sorting order of the tasks, the period covered by the report etc., I should be able to also choose where to place the items on the report. For example, one stylesheet that I often use is TodoListStyler_v1.5.xsl. It produces a lot of information that I need, but the data is not presented in an easily readable (more tabular) form for my needs.
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You'll find below my remarks
1/ It is not really reporting, but one way of reflexion shoud be to create our custom view by classifing tasks based on a specific item.
For example I want to see in a tree representation, my tasks by priority or by allocatedTo or by status, or by %complete, etc...
This could be a (future) view of todolist (like calendar or gantt).
2/ Regarding reporting, XSL is fine but not for everyone. I agree with todoer, if we could have a report tool where to place fields would be a nice to have.
NB : it currently miss one important thing: Ability to use the task icon in export/transformation actions. Would it be possible to integrate in the todolist xml file, the absolute path to the task icon, in addition of the ICONINDEX tag ?
3/ Dashboard functionality could be very interesting : make some summary/calculation/charts/cross table regarding tasks : display the number of tasks finished, not finished, etc..., make pie charts or bar charts, like in Excel.
A first option should be : use excel by creating a link between todolist and an excel template file.
- The excel template file contains : one sheet with the columns/fields of todolist (fixed data sheet) : Other sheets are to be customized by users in order to make some reports, or dashboards, charts in excel based on the data sheet.
- user in Todolist, exports data (always) to the excel template, in the fixed data sheet, then save the excel file with a new name. So user will have the excel dashboards with todolist info.
Remark: I realize that this could be already done with a CSV export (but the exported CSV file should be always with the same name), even if it is not "integrated"
A second option would be to have an integrated tool (since todolist is a portable app), but it is a lot of work !
modified 29-Apr-12 7:57am.
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laurentbosc wrote: For example I want to see in a tree representation, my tasks by priority or by allocatedTo or by status, or by %complete, etc... So there would a root item, say 'Priority' which might also be hidden), having child nodes, say 'Priority 1, Priority 2, etc', each of which would contain tasks having that priority? You might want the option to breakdown only top-level tasks and have the subtasks remain attached to their parent. It would also make drag'n'drop interesting because the parent-child relationships might not exist.
laurentbosc wrote: This could be a (future) view of todolist (like calendar or gantt). I agree.
laurentbosc wrote: Would it be possible to integrate in the todolist xml file, the absolute path to the task icon, in addition of the ICONINDEX tag ? I shall give it some thought.
laurentbosc wrote: A first option should be : use excel by creating a link between todolist and an excel template file.
- The excel template file contains : one sheet with the columns/fields of todolist (fixed data sheet) : Other sheets are to be customized by users in order to make some reports, or dashboards, charts in excel based on the data sheet.
- user in Todolist, exports data (always) to the excel template, in the fixed data sheet, then save the excel file with a new name. So user will have the excel dashboards with todolist info. Most of this goes over my head, since I only ever use Excel to add up figures
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So there would a root item, say 'Priority' which might also be hidden), having child nodes, say 'Priority 1, Priority 2, etc', each of which would contain tasks having that priority? You might want the option to breakdown only top-level tasks and have the subtasks remain attached to their parent. It would also make drag'n'drop interesting because the parent-child relationships might not exist.
Exactly. And root item ('priority' for example) could be hidden, indeed.
However, there is two kind of representation I suppose :
custom tree view or custom list view...
1/ custom tree view (by priority) :
Priority
---Priority1
-------T1
----------T1.1
----------T1.2
-------T2
----------T2.1
----------T2.2
---Priority2
-------T3
----------T3.1
2/ custom list view (by priority, with 'hide parent task' option activated) :
Priority
---Priority1
-------T1.1
-------T1.2
-------T2.1
-------T2.2
---Priority2
-------T3.1
Second point : Regarding the path of the icon in the xml file, there is another advantage : this could enables to transfer icon of the task, to the mindmap (in the .mm), or display the icon in the html report, which is not possible currently.
For dashboards, I'm convinced that if todolist would be able to :
* manage conditional icons (via custom fields)
* export these icons (and the value of the field) to .mm / csv / html,
this will bring some 'attractive' possibilites.
modified 30-Apr-12 14:13pm.
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Todoer wrote: Unfortunately certain family matters have recently taken up much more of my available time for TDL. Take your time.
Todoer wrote: I would look forward to a report generating method where, for example, in addition to being able to choose which fields to display, the sorting order of the tasks, the period covered by the report etc., I should be able to also choose where to place the items on the report. For example, one stylesheet that I often use is TodoListStyler_v1.5.xsl. It produces a lot of information that I need, but the data is not presented in an easily readable (more tabular) form for my needs. This is what I was hoping for: Suggestions for what sort of options a dialog would display. I'm already considering writing an Html exporter to present a proper tabulated report, since a number of people have requested output more like the main task-tree.
Any feedback in this area would be appreciated.
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zajchapp wrote: but probably not for everyone. Understatement of the year!
zajchapp wrote: I will probably look at the calculated time report This definitely an area where some csv analysis and reporting could be useful.
zajchapp wrote: I am not sure how you could make the reporting easier though, and I am not sure how having an export module might change this. Is the thought to do away with stylesheets? The problem with stylesheets, as you have identified, is that they require a fair amount of knowledge to write, which is very limiting. So I was proposing an 'reporter-exporter (TM)' that would display a panel to allow users to select various styles/colors/formats for displaying their reports and then the exporter would do the heavy-lifting.
zajchapp wrote: On a related(?) note, when exporting to csv, the results are all put into a single column, with attributes (unsurprisingly) separated by commas. I'm sure it used to put the attributes into separate columns. Or am I imagining things? If you expect your csv to be opened in Excel, you will need to use 'TAB' as your delimiter. Also Excel does not like Unicode csvs, so this may also be affecting your experience.
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.dan.g. wrote: So I was proposing an 'reporter-exporter (TM)' that would display a panel to allow users to select various styles/colors/formats for displaying their reports and then the exporter would do the heavy-lifting.
I see. This could be challenging (he says helpfully)! At the risk of repeating others, the reporter-exporter would:
- not need the current task list to be filtered, sorted etc. The exporter UI would allow this to be defined.
- allow selection of which attributes to export, and in which column order they appear.
- allow the format of each task attribute to be defined (perhaps based on some condition, like the task colouring?). Completed tasks should appear different to incomplete tasks.
- allow certain task attributes to be combined / calculated (e.g. time estimates, time spent, earliest start date / latest completion date).
- allow saving of report formats, so you don't need to set them up each time.
- allow the use of existing global or tasklist specific settings rather than redoing them each time (e.g. task formats, colouring, sort etc)
OR
You cut down the options, and develop the ability to print the current view (task tree or list view) as it is seen on screen (I assume this is possible). Perhaps allow inclusion / removal of currently visible attribute columns. Make the user sort / filter the task in the normal UI before printing.
I suggest this, because the functionality is there for all the filtering / sorting etc in the UI already. The reporter would be replicating large parts of it. I guess this wouldn't necessarily help the exporting.
Hope that is of some help.
zajchap
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.dan.g. wrote: If you expect your csv to be opened in Excel, you will need to use 'TAB' as your delimiter. Also Excel does not like Unicode csvs, so this may also be affecting your experience.
Thanks. I think it might be the latter. Excel doesn't invoke the csv import wizard initially. Saving and re-opening is an adequate work-around, now that I know.
zajchap
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