Connected components
The components that were discussed earlier are connected. Actions on one component may have an impact on another. This section aims to cover the interactions between the moving parts in the planning view of Dime.Scheduler.
The following actions have consequences for components other than the ones they are executed in:
| Connected action | Component(s) |
|---|---|
| Select a record | Planning board, planned tasks, open tasks, Gantt chart, route sequence |
| Drag and drop | Open tasks |
| Bulk update | Planned tasks |
| Quick update | Indicators |
| Select range in date picker | Date picker |
| Draw route | Map |
| Change route sequence | Route sequence |
| Apply resource filter | Resource filters |
| Apply resource for task | Open tasks, planned tasks, Gantt chart |
| Show resources for selection | Planned tasks |
| Open project | Open tasks |
| Double click | Planned tasks |
| Highlight planned tasks | Planned tasks |
In what follows is a description of the result of these actions. Before we do that, it's worth noting that there is more than these interconnected components. The profile settings also have an impact on the components, as described here. For example, the settings panel enables the planner to set the start date of all the planning boards in the profile, irrespective of their state. This behavior is similar to the actions described in this document, as an external trigger will cause the behavior of other components to change.
Selecting a record
Selecting a task or appointment triggers a series of events that will force other components to take action:
- Show details
- Show notifications
- Show pin on map
Show details for the selected entity
Each time when the selection changes in any of the open/planned tasks grids, planning boards, Gantt charts or route sequence grids, the details component will be updated to show more information of that particular record.
When the planning view is loaded, the application will load the fields that were configured in the setup view. To configure what information to show in the details component, consult the settings documentation. The grid is composed with a fixed set of records and columns - as defined by the administrator. From then on, only the "Value" column will change when the described event occurs.
Show notifications for selected entity
Each time when the selection changes in any of the open/planned tasks grids, planning boards, Gantt charts or route sequence grids, the notifications component will be updated. When no records are selected, the general notifications (those without a link to a record) will be displayed.
For appointments in the planning board, a visual indicator will indicate if there is a notification for the appointment and if so, it will show a different color depending on the severity of the notification.
Show pin on map for a selected entity
Shows the pin on the map for an open/planned task or appointment, if that entity is backed by a job. Depending on the application and/or profile settings, this may invoke the routing feature to connect the active pins on the map.
Drag and drop open tasks
One of the most vital features is the ability to create appointments by dragging and dropping items from the open task list on the planning board. Given the task is not a project task (this can be deduced from the "Task Type" column), an open task record can be dropped on a time slot in the planning board. This time slot has two dimensions: the time and the resource. Both parameters are required to convert a task in an appointment.
When a task is dropped and validation has passed, the application will save the appointment and broadcast it to the plugins, chief among which the back-office application, which in return may send updated information of the appointment and/or task back to Dime.Scheduler. When an open task is fully scheduled, it will disappear from the open task grid.
Draw route
Whether the application setup or the profile enables the automatic route calculation or not, the route sequence components will be updated when a route is drawn on the map. When a route is drawn on the map, the route will also be displayed in the route sequence grid. The route as a list may provide additional insights, and it may be used to reshuffle the order of the waypoints in the route.
Change route sequence
The route sequence grid - as its name suggests - allows users to reorder the stops in the route that is drawn on the map. Every modification done in this grid will trigger the map to recalculate the route.
Date picker selection
The date picker is there to allow the user to select a custom range to display in the planning board and capacity pivot grid. The date picker itself is only set by other components when the user executes a task that modifies the dates of the planning board. Note that such changes may be applied indirectly. Besides obvious actions on the planning board such as navigating to the next period or changing the view, date changes may originate from the profile settings, where users can define default start dates and ranges.
Apply resource filter
The filter icon that appears in many of the grids provide a shortcut to filter the resources in the planning board.
Open project
The context menus of the open/planned task and route sequence grids offer - depending on the task type - the user the possibility to open the project in the Gantt chart.
Bulk update
The contextual toolbar actions in the planned tasks grid reveal actions that involve inter-component interactions. Two of them are dedicated to update the category and time marker of the selected planned tasks.
Quick update
The indicators component allows you to drag categories and time markers from this component and drop them on appointments in the planning board. This is a quick and easy way to modify the category or time marker of an appointment.
Show resources filter
The contextual toolbar actions in the planned tasks grid reveal actions that involve inter-component interactions. Two of them are dedicated to filter the resources in the planning board. This is not to be confused with the resource filter. This filter is much simpler: it will only show the resources that were selected in the planned tasks grid. However, the two filter types may coincide, resulting in a composite filter where resources have to match both requirements. Moreover, these filters can coincide with filters in the resource grid of the planning board. This produces ultimate flexibility for the planner. It may be confusing at first, but if applied correctly, it can be extremely powerful.
Double click planned task
Double clicking on a row in the planned tasks grid will highlight the appointment in the planning board. If the appointment is not in the visible timeline, the component will navigate to that particular date. However, it is still possible - due to filters, sorting and paging - that the resource is still not visible. In that case, the planner is forced to modify the planning board's settings so the appointment can be visualized. Otherwise, the appointment will be highlighted automatically.
Highlight planned tasks
The selection of planned tasks can be highlighted on the planning board. Not only are the appointments displayed differently, they are treated as a subset of records. For example, the drag-select feature will only consider the highlighted appointments.