Chart Box Template

What a planner means

Chart Box Template is a layout setting that picks which fields appear in chart-view boxes. Oracle View menu: "Enables you to apply an existing chart box template to the current layout, or customize your own. This command is disabled when you display a table or Gantt Chart in the active window." Enabled for Projects, Resources, Work Breakdown Structure. Corresponding toolbar: Top Layout Toolbar. It is not Chart Font and Colors (Chart Font and Colors — Font / Back Color / Box Color), not Arrange Children / Align Children (box placement), not Activity Network Activity Box Template or .ANP positions (Activity Network), not Columns (Columns — table Available/Selected list), not Table Font and Row (Table Font and Row), not Visualizer (Visualizer), and not the PROJWBS / PROJECT / RSRC / OBS values a box can display. Changing Chart Box Template does not add or delete WBS nodes, projects, or resources.

Professional — Oracle names these menus:

• View, Chart Box Template (WBS how-to tip: "To change the displayed information, choose View, Chart Box Template, then an information type.")
• Display Options bar → Chart Box Template (OBS: "choose Chart Box Template, then select Customize." View the WBS: "You can also select the same View commands by clicking the Display Options bar.")
• Top Layout toolbar: "Enables you to apply an existing chart box template to the current layout, or customize your own. Click the icon to select an option." Displays by default? No. Enabled for Projects, Resources, WBS. Corresponding menu: View > Chart Box Template.
• View menu hot key: Alt-V, X. Toolbar page: "The icons on this toolbar do not have corresponding shortcut keys."

The pages fetched do not print a list of information-type names, a Field Name pick list, a width/height unit or range, a toolbar icon picture, or that this command formats Font / Back Color / Box Color. Do not invent them.

WBS chart — Oracle Change the work breakdown structure chart display: Project, WBS, then View, Show on Top, Chart View. That page's Chart Font and Colors steps are appearance. Tip: "To change the displayed information, choose View, Chart Box Template, then an information type." Oracle did not name those information types on the pages fetched. That how-to does not print Customize, Add, Field Name, Default, Sample Box, or Total Width. Do not invent a WBS type list, and do not copy the OBS Customize walk-through onto WBS as if Oracle printed it there.

Projects chart — Oracle Projects window: "In the top layout, you can display the Project Table, a project chart view, or a project Gantt Chart." View menu enables Chart Box Template when the active window is Projects (and the display is a chart view, not table or Gantt). The pages fetched do not print a "Change the project chart information" field list. Do not invent Projects-only fields.

Resources chart — Oracle Resources window: "In the Resources window, you can view the resource hierarchy as a table or as a chart." "You can customize columns, fonts, and colors, and you can group, sort, and filter resources." View menu enables Chart Box Template when the active window is Resources (chart view, not table). The pages fetched do not print a "Change the resource chart information" field list. Do not invent Resources-only fields.

OBS chart — Oracle Change the OBS chart information: Enterprise, OBS, then Display Options bar → Chart Box Template, Customize. Fields that how-to names:

• Add
• Field Name — "select a template element."
• width and height "for the template element"
• up and down arrows — "to place the element within the OBS box"
• Delete — "To remove an element from the OBS box, select the element, then click Delete."
• Default — "To revert to the default OBS box fields, click Default."

OBS Change the OBS chart display tip: "click the Display Options bar, choose Chart Box Template, then select Customize." View the OBS chart: Display Options bar → Chart View (table again: Table View). The View menu enable list for Chart Box Template is Projects, Resources, Work Breakdown Structure — it does not print OBS. OBS uses the Display Options bar on the pages fetched. Do not copy View > Chart Box Template onto OBS as if Oracle printed that menu path there. The OBS how-to does not print Sample Box, Total Width, Shift Up / Shift Down, or "an information type." Do not copy those onto OBS.

Oracle Using the Status Bar and Layout Options bar: "When you view data in chart view format, you can display up to 2,000 boxes." That is a chart-view limit, not a Chart Box Template field.

Chart Box Template dialog (Activity Network — different menu). Oracle Chart Box Template dialog box: "Use the Chart Box Template dialog box to customize chart box content and appearance when you view information in the Activity Network." Fields Oracle names on that page: Sample Box, Field Name, Width, Height, Total Width, Add, Delete, Shift Up, Shift Down. Activity Network how-to opens that customize path as View, Activity Network, Activity Network Options → Activity Box Template tab → Box Template (Field Name / Width / Height; Total Width; Copy From). That is the Activities Activity Network. It is not this View > Chart Box Template command (disabled for table or Gantt; enabled for Projects / Resources / WBS). Do not copy Sample Box / Total Width / Shift Up / Shift Down onto WBS "information type" or OBS Customize. See Activity Network.

Not these other commands

• Chart Font and Colors — View menu: "Enables you to customize fonts and colors in chart views." Font / Back Color / Box Color. Corresponding toolbar: None. That is appearance, not which fields appear. See Chart Font and Colors.
• Arrange Children — "Enables you to arrange children horizontally or vertically in chart views. This command is disabled when you display a table or Gantt Chart in the active window." Enabled for Projects, Resources, Work Breakdown Structure. Top Layout toolbar. That is placement, not fields.
• Align Children — "Aligns children to the left, right, or center in chart views. This command is disabled when you display a table or Gantt Chart in the active window." Enabled for Projects, Resources, Work Breakdown Structure. Top Layout toolbar. That is alignment, not fields.
• Columns — table Available/Selected list; "enabled when you display a table view." See Columns.
• Table Font and Row — table text, color, and row height. See Table Font and Row.
• Activity Network Activity Box Template / Save Network Positions — Activities Show on Top; box positions as .ANP. See Activity Network.
• Visualizer — Tools > Visualizer; layouts export as .vlf. See Visualizer.
• Zoom to Best Fit — Display toolbar: "Re-sizes chart views to fit the entire chart into the visible area." Corresponding menu: View > Zoom > Zoom to Best Fit. That is zoom, not fields.

The Professional Chart Box Template pages fetched do not print Manage Views, a Chart Box tab, View menu → Chart Box as an EPPM-style Customize View, a named information-type list, or that enabling Chart Box Template is a named .plf field. Do not invent them. Layouts travel as .plf. See Filters and Layouts Are a View, Not the Schedule.

EPPM web — Manage Views / Customize View tabs Oracle named: Columns, Filtering, Grouping, Sorting, Bars, Gantt, Activity Network, Access. Configuring Activity Views lists those tabs. It does not print Chart Box Template, View > Show on Top > Chart View, "an information type," or OBS Customize.

EPPM Activity Network tab of Customize View names One field per line and Field One through Field Eight (Five–Eight require One field per line cleared). That is the Activities Activity Network box. It is not Professional View > Chart Box Template.

Oracle Working with WBS Elements is add / copy / paste / cut / delete / merge WBS. That page does not print Chart View, Chart Box Template, or an information type.

Those EPPM pages do not print View > Chart Box Template, Display Options bar → Chart Box Template, information type, Customize / Add / Field Name / Default, Arrange Children, or Align Children. Do not copy those Professional menus onto EPPM.

XER

Chart Box Template (apply an existing template or customize; WBS "information type"; OBS Field Name / width / height / Default) is a layout setting. Oracle's project XER data map TOC lists no CHARTBOX, CHART_BOX, BOXTEMPLATE, LAYOUT, or VIEW table. Do not invent one. Layouts travel as .plf, not in a project XER. See Filters and Layouts Are a View, Not the Schedule.

Activity Network box positions travel as a separate .ANP file (Save / Open Network Positions). That is not this command. See Activity Network.

Oracle did not name an XER column for Chart Box Template, information type, or OBS box Field Name / width / height.

What a box can display is not this dialog:

• WBS nodes: PROJWBS. See XER Tables That Matter for a Viewer or Converter.
• Projects: PROJECT.
• Resources: RSRC.
• OBS: OBS.

A Viewer parse of one XER cannot reconstruct the planner's Chart Box Template.

Microsoft Project

Desktop Project has a Network Diagram and Box Styles. They are not the same object as P6 Chart Box Template.

Microsoft Create a Network Diagram: View > Network Diagram. "Boxes (or nodes) represent tasks, and dependencies show up as lines that connect those boxes." Format > Box Styles: "In the Style settings for list, select the task that you want to change." "Under Border, choose the shape, color, width, and gridline options to create the look you want." "Select a name under Data template to apply your changes to an existing template." More Templates: New / Copy / Edit / Import. Format > Layout sets box arrangement, alignment, spacing, height, and width. That is a task-dependency diagram. It is closer to P6 Activity Network than to Projects / Resources / WBS Chart View.

Microsoft Create WBS codes: outline numbers on tasks (Project > WBS > Define Code). That is not a WBS org-chart view.

The pages fetched do not print a Microsoft Project WBS chart, EPS chart, or resource-hierarchy chart with Chart Box Template / information type / Field Name. Do not invent one. Do not map P6 Chart Box Template (which fields appear in Projects / Resources / WBS chart boxes; disabled for table or Gantt; .plf) to MSP Format > Box Styles Data template and call them the same command. Do not claim MPXJ can write a real MPP.

Don't

• Treat Chart Box Template as Chart Font and Colors, as Arrange Children / Align Children, as Activity Network Activity Box Template or .ANP, as Columns, as Table Font and Row, as Visualizer, or as the PROJWBS / PROJECT / RSRC / OBS values a box can display.
• Treat this command as enabled on a table or Gantt Chart.
• Treat View > Chart Box Template (Projects / Resources / WBS; "an information type") as the OBS Display Options bar → Customize path, or copy one menu path onto the other.
• Invent a WBS / Projects / Resources information-type list, or copy OBS Add / Field Name / Default onto WBS, or copy WBS "information type" onto OBS.
• Treat the Chart Box Template dialog page (Oracle: Activity Network; Sample Box / Total Width / Shift Up / Shift Down) as this View menu command.
• Invent a CHARTBOX / CHART_BOX / BOXTEMPLATE / LAYOUT / VIEW XER table, or treat any PROJWBS / PROJECT / RSRC / OBS column as the box template.
• Treat EPPM Customize View (Columns / Filtering / Grouping / Sorting / Bars / Gantt / Activity Network Field One–Eight / Access) or Working with WBS Elements (add / copy / paste / delete) as the Professional View > Chart Box Template command.
• Copy Professional View > Chart Box Template / information type / OBS Customize onto EPPM as if Oracle printed those menus there.
• Map this object to MSP Format > Box Styles Data template and call them the same.
• Claim MPXJ writes a real MPP.
• Claim a Viewer reconstructed the planner's Chart Box Template from an XER.