Download gantt-chart-fmpro-20.hqx (156,899 KB)
From: Allan Hunter
Subject: [*] Gantt Chart 2.0 for FmPro
This is an upgrade to Gantt Chart for FmPro which I posted in 1988.
Here is a FileMaker Pro solution to the challenge of charting, as
bars graphed over time, a series of dated events, across a page
beginning at the left side with the earliest beginning date and
ending with the latest ending date of any of the bars. This is a
Gantt chart.
There are other Gantt charting solutions but the flexibility and
ubiquity of FileMaker Pro makes it useful to be able to do Gantt
charts directly in FileMaker.
NEW in version 2.0
* Now handles up to 4 distinct event intervals for each record. So
if you want to graph U.S. Presidents' terms of office, you can
display Grover Cleveland's two noncontiguous terms on a single line
with a break in between. Or you could graph the leadership of Apple
Computer without having to have two records for Steve Jobs.
* Now comes with a convenient second file, "Gantt Source", in which
data can be entered, imported, or set via script from your other
FileMaker files. Each line in Gantt Source is a record consisting of
a name, Start Date, and End Date. Other fields are available for
optional use to describe data further. A script in Gantt Source
places the data in Gantt Chart, creating a second, third, and/or
fourth interval as it comes across records in Gantt Source that have
the same name as an existing record in Gantt Chart. Gantt Source is
completely unprotected, so you can define new fields, relationships,
scripts, and layouts, and incorporate it into your existing
solutions. Gantt Chart has the field definitions and relationships
protected, but scripts and layouts can still be edited. A pair of
two-way relationships between the two files links them by item Name
and by a "universal pivot" that lets you set global field values.
* I am requesting a shareware fee of $15 now, although the product is
in no way disabled pending my receiving of it, and it doesn't expire
or display any reminder messages.
NOTES from the original version (edited where appropriate for version 2.0):
The interface for the Gantt Chart file is simple: each bar (item) is
a record; create a new record, enter start date, end date (optional:
second start date and end date; third start date and end date; fourth
start date and end date), go to next entry, and when completed run
the Set Overall Duration script (visible in the Script menu) that
will calculate the earliest start date and latest end date in order
to graph the collection as a Gantt chart. The enclosed file comes
equipped with global color fields allowing the user to set a
different color for each entry, selectable via a drop-down menu. The
file is easily scriptable from other FMPro solutions: create new
record assumes an item name is in the clipboard, and if a
relationship is defined on the basis of that item name, you can
assign start and end dates from afar, and end by calling the script
that figures minimum start date and maximum end date and prints or
displays the resultant graph. Using FileMaker import, you can also
begin with a spreadsheet or tab-delimited textfile consisting of item
name, start date, end date, and import it into Gantt Source. This
solution is even more of a CPU exerciser than the previous version;
you can watch it draw each row's bar on a 500MHz G3 (12-15 second
screen draw), and on a 7100/80 you find yourself anticipating the
result of each pseudopixel thereof as it is calculated (go get a cup
of coffee). 672K (at least on my HD), requires FileMaker Pro 3.x or
higher, easily converted to FileMaker 5, cross-platform.