Clarity

  • 1.  How to add set of new attributes to ProjObj resembling data-entry grid?

    Posted Jan 06, 2012 02:15 PM
    I need to create a new report on special projects (Actuate). Before creating the report I need to add new attributes to the Project Object and to one of our own objects (tied to the Project page).

    Adding and displaying these new attributes will allow our PMs to enter the information required for the future upper management report.

    Adding standard textboxes and numeric input (money) boxes is easy. One set I need to add though will look like a grid in the report. It will have a few rows and four columns. The row count could vary but I guess i could set it to a fixed number, say 8 or so that should suffice.

    What is the best way to do this through attributes and data-entry screen creation in the Project pages? As there is no Grid Control to drop in the pages (I wish), I guess a low-tech solution would be a set of textboxes grouped in one screen section that more-or less resemble a grid (8 rows x 4 columns), named text1 to text8 and so on (yech!)

    Any other better ideas out there?

    Note: I do not have PMO Accelerator and am not familiar with its capabilities. Can this be simply done in standard Clarity 12.0.5?

    The other option I'm thinking of, if we can't do this cleanly enough is to add an HTML window inside Clarity and write a program in C# (.NET) that presents a clean interface, within Clarity. We already have such an animal for another screen but it is not easy to sell this option to management without trying the straight Clarity route first (as they would prefer to stay withing Clarity for less maintenance).

    Any comments appreciated.


  • 2.  RE: How to add set of new attributes to ProjObj resembling data-entry grid?

    Posted Jan 06, 2012 04:03 PM
    As far as entering data in standard Clarity create screens my understanding is that there is a limit of two columns.
    Some people like Federico have created Excel integration so that you enter the data into Excel spreadsheet and then it is is stored into Clarity.
    See
    http://itroisolutions.com/ppm_excel_interface.html
    That would be more general than a code for a specific data entry.

    Martti K.


  • 3.  RE: How to add set of new attributes to ProjObj resembling data-entry grid?

    Posted Jan 09, 2012 09:29 AM

    another_martink wrote:

    As far as entering data in standard Clarity create screens my understanding is that there is a limit of two columns.
    Some people like Federico have created Excel integration so that you enter the data into Excel spreadsheet and then it is is stored into Clarity.
    See
    http://itroisolutions.com/ppm_excel_interface.html
    That would be more general than a code for a specific data entry.

    Martti K.
    Interesting to know there an Excel interface, but we have no budget for other supporting products, and in this case I'm more inclined to go with the C#.NET option (through an HTML form) I mentioned, which I would do myself without need for extra objects and money.

    Looking into all Clarity options before I go the programming route, which is fairly simple to code and do a nice interface, but needs some work on Web Services to have our custom database tables interact with Clarity cleanly and properly, and I have not done XOG work yet.


  • 4.  RE: How to add set of new attributes to ProjObj resembling data-entry grid?
    Best Answer

    Posted Jan 06, 2012 04:18 PM
    Create a(nother) subobject of the project that represents your row-type.

    Do NOT give out CREATE rights on the subobject to users, but create the instances of the subobject programtically (through XOG, a process, etc).

    Train users to go into the LIST view of the sub-object instances (within the project)...
    ...and then train the users to enter EDIT MODE on that LIST screen and you now have a edittable grid of data within the project. :vader:

    (or if you are on v13 they can edit the grid of data directly :ph34r: )


  • 5.  RE: How to add set of new attributes to ProjObj resembling data-entry grid?

    Posted Jan 09, 2012 09:33 AM

    Dave wrote:

    Create a(nother) subobject of the project that represents your row-type.

    Do NOT give out CREATE rights on the subobject to users, but create the instances of the subobject programmatically (through XOG, a process, etc).

    Train users to go into the LIST view of the sub-object instances (within the project)...
    ...and then train the users to enter EDIT MODE on that LIST screen and you now have a editable grid of data within the project. :vader:

    (or if you are on v13 they can edit the grid of data directly :ph34r: )
    This is an interesting option. We are in v12.0.5

    I am weak in XOG, having never done a new process with it, so I have to learn that first. I will look into this before deciding (must do today to start work on this project), on taking this route or creating an HTML new page that outsources to a custom-made C#.NET program (we already have one doing just this). This gives me complete flexibility in interface (it runs in a custom window within Clarity), but still nereds XOG/Web Services to write data back to Clarity as it will be just a custom data-entry screen