Comparison reports/ Viewing pre- successors / saving Project files

[Bernard Bakker]

Hi Group,

I have several questions regarding MS Project 2k3 especially regarding
comparison reports:

Comparison charts:
* When i am making a comparison report, empty task rows in the
original versions will be overwritten in the comparison chart. What i
mean is: in the original version task 1 in on task row 1, task 2 is on
row 5, row 2,3,4 are empty in both versions. In the comparison chart
task 2 is moved to row 2. Is there a way to leave task 2 on row 5?
* When viewing the Gantt-chart or network diagram of the comparison
report. the arrow representing the task links are gone. Is there a way
to view them?

Viewing Pre- successors:
* Is it possible to view ALL pre- and successors af a certain task?
Not only the predecessors/ successors directly linked to the task but
also the predecessors of the predecessors and the sucessors of the
sucessors linked to that certain task.

Saving
* When i have opened a project file and i haven't changed anything
(only printed the file) and i want to close the file i get nagged with
the message "do you want to save changes ...." is there a way to turn
this message off?

Thanks in andvance for your answers!

Best Regards,

Bernard.

 

[davegb]

Hi Group,

I have several questions regarding MS Project 2k3 especially regarding
comparison reports:

Comparison charts:
* When i am making a comparison report, empty task rows in the
original versions will be overwritten in the comparison chart. What i
mean is: in the original version task 1 in on task row 1, task 2 is on
row 5, row 2,3,4 are empty in both versions. In the comparison chart
task 2 is moved to row 2. Is there a way to leave task 2 on row 5?
* When viewing the Gantt-chart or network diagram of the comparison
report. the arrow representing the task links are gone. Is there a way
to view them?

Viewing Pre- successors:
* Is it possible to view ALL pre- and successors af a certain task?
Not only the predecessors/ successors directly linked to the task but
also the predecessors of the predecessors and the sucessors of the
sucessors linked to that certain task.

Saving
* When i have opened a project file and i haven't changed anything
(only printed the file) and i want to close the file i get nagged with
the message "do you want to save changes ...." is there a way to turn
this message off?

Thanks in andvance for your answers!

Best Regards,

Bernard.

Frankly, Bernard, I avoid blank rows in Project. It sees them as
tasks, not matter what you do. They will drive you crazy with problems
like this, and many more, until you remove them.

Hope this helps in your world.

 

[John]

Hi Group,

I have several questions regarding MS Project 2k3 especially regarding
comparison reports:

Comparison charts:
* When i am making a comparison report, empty task rows in the
original versions will be overwritten in the comparison chart. What i
mean is: in the original version task 1 in on task row 1, task 2 is on
row 5, row 2,3,4 are empty in both versions. In the comparison chart
task 2 is moved to row 2. Is there a way to leave task 2 on row 5?
* When viewing the Gantt-chart or network diagram of the comparison
report. the arrow representing the task links are gone. Is there a way
to view them?

Viewing Pre- successors:
* Is it possible to view ALL pre- and successors af a certain task?
Not only the predecessors/ successors directly linked to the task but
also the predecessors of the predecessors and the sucessors of the
sucessors linked to that certain task.

Saving
* When i have opened a project file and i haven't changed anything
(only printed the file) and i want to close the file i get nagged with
the message "do you want to save changes ...." is there a way to turn
this message off?

Thanks in andvance for your answers!

Best Regards,

Bernard.

Bernard,
Dave gave some very good advice about not using blank rows in a Project
plan. I agree, some users feel it makes the plan "look" nicer but as
Dave said they can cause problems. I never use them myself.

Let me answer your other questions
When you refer to "comparison charts" I assume you are talking about the
resulting file that is generated when you use the Compare Project
Versions utility. That compare file is created by a macro that literally
loops through all tasks in both files and compares them. When working
with Project VBA, blank lines are null tasks and therefore must be
ignored. That is exactly what is happening. The compare utility macro is
ignoring those blank lines and the separate independent project file
representing the comparison that is created, does not have any blank
lines.

With regard to link lines in the compare file. The purpose of the
compare file is to show differences both in the data in in the Gantt
bars themselves. Links are not replicated in the compare file. If they
were, the Gantt chart would be very cluttered and virtually unreadable.

With regard to viewing the full link chain of a task. Your best bet is
to use fellow MVP, Jack Dahlgren's Trace macro which can be found on his
website at, http://masamiki.com/project/macros.htm

When you open a file for printing only you do in fact make changes to
that file. You make changes to the print parameters and those are saved
with the file. That's why you will always get the save message.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP