Chart Components: Editing Data

On screen graphics are just a small part of what components can do. Components can also contain vast amounts of information which can be entered, edited, exported and even printed out.

A component’s information is displayed in Data Fields. These Data Fields appear in the following areas:

1. The Position Profile (Box Item) menu.
2. The Data Outline View area.
3. The Data Properties box.

Displaying/Hiding Data on the Chart

Click on a component to display its data. (Note: the Box Item menu and the Data Outline View will remain empty until at least one component is selected.)

A component can have dozens of Data Fields – far too many to be displayed on the chart. To solve this, the user can control which fields are visible. By default, the Name and Title fields are active. To select which fields will be displayed:

1. Click on the desired component/box.
2. Right– click and select Properties. (or you can press Alt– Enter)
3. Go to the Define Layout tab in the Box Properties dialog.
4. Drag a field from the left field list to the box preview in order to display it in a chart box.

Accessing Individual Data Fields

There are four ways to access a component’s data fields:

1. Position Profile (Box Item): single click in the box next to the field’s name.
2. Data Outline View: double click in the field of choice.
3. On screen Component (method 1): double click in an empty area in the component. This will launch a new Box Properties window. Once the window appears, single click in a field for data entry.
4. On screen Component (method 2): Right-click in an empty area of the component. This will launch an additional menu. Go to the bottom of the menu and choose Properties. This will launch the Box Properties interface. Click on a data field and edit as normal.

Data Fields Information Types

1. Text – text information can be typed directly (or cut and pasted) into these fields.
2. Link – double clicking this field launches a new interface for link creation.
3. Image – stored images are linked to a component through this field.
4. Attachment – stored information files are linked to a component through this field.
5. Numeric – Numbers with or without decimals.
6. Date/Time – Various date formats
7. Currency – Most international currencies are available.
8. Enumeration – Develops a dropdown list of specific data choices
9. Query – Enables a search using predefined rules.
10. Calculated – Count and Sum for headcount, span of control, budget summaries, levels and more.
11. Name – 26 permutations of a name can be accommodated.
12. Smart field – Sets a graphical or text indicator on a box based upon a rule.
13. Concatenation – Allows the connection between two data fields such as first and last names.
14. Time Span – Calculates the number of days between two dates.
15. Formula – Use any two numeric fields in a computation to generate a third.

Changing Data Fields

Data Field customization takes place in the following areas:

1. Global changes to ALL the data fields are made on the Default Fields Setmenu (for more details, please see the Default Fields Set section).
2. Changes to a single component’s data fields are made on the Data Proper­ties menu (for more details, please see the Data Properties section).