Managing and Editing Views

This article explores how to use, manage, and edit the grid-like views in ResourceFirst, as well as how to create your own personal views.

About Views

In ResourceFirst, grid-like displays are called “Views.” This article explores how to use, manage, and edit views, as well as how to create your own personal views.

Scrolling

On pages with views (AKA spreadsheet type grids), use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom or vertical scroll bar on the right when needed.

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Filtering Views

Most views have a filter dropdown icon in the upper right toolbar that appears as follows: clipboard_e5992e4740706936970ea86ccfd1c4d7d.png

Depending on the view, you will see various options once you click the dropdown.

For Assignments, the following options appear:

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Most pages have the “Clear all filters” option. This clears all active column and view filters (NOT your main Get Data filters).

Pages where edits can be made have the “Filter on Unsaved Changes” option (which allows you to see ONLY recent changes you made that haven’t been saved yet).

Assignment pages also have a “Filter Zero Rows” option, so you can only see assignments with data.

Custom Filters

Project Data, Resource Data, and Assignment pages have the Customer Filter option, in which you can create your own filter combining multiple column filters.

For example, in the custom filter dialog below on the Assignments page, we would see all records where the Assignment Effort State is equal to “Committed” and the Project Category is equal to “Growth.”

Once you’ve created all your filter and/or combinations, click Apply to apply the filter.

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In addition to View-level filters, you can sort, filter, show/hide, and lock individual columns. Below are instructions for using those features.

Note: On Project, Resource, Assignment, and Financial pages, view and column filters are sticky. They will remain in place even after browser refresh or logoff. However, you can turn them off individually or use the Clear All Filters option.

Sort, Filter, Show / Hide, Move, and Lock Columns

Column headers can be used to sort and filter data, show/hide columns, and lock columns into left or right horizontal scrolling panes.

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Sorting Columns

To sort a column based on its values you can:

  • Click on the column header text to toggle the sort direction, ascending or descendingimages_image14.png
  • Expand the column header menu by clicking the down arrow and selecting the sort directionimages_image17.png

Filtering on Individual Columns

To filter a column, hover over the column header, click the column dropdown clipboard_e6a4c60202285eab32d98572e2c77f33c.png  and select Filters.

Depending on the administration setting for the selected field, you will get either a text filter method, a multi-value list selection, or a numeric selector for the filter.

Text Filter

For columns that are defined as having a filter type of Text in Admin–>Column Headings, a text string selector will appear.

This option displays every row where the field value contains the text string specified.

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Below, a partial text string was entered for the Assignment Org column, so that only records with “trai” in the Assignment Org appear. Also note the little filter mark to the left of the Assignment Org column header (clipboard_e34e9eb4d0ac0775d012d2ca2d846bbba.png). This indicates there is a filter active on that column.

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Note the check box on the left of the Filters menu option above. clipboard_ea1ad8013f54dd4ecde90316c8d23308b.png

When checked, the filter is active. When unchecked, the filter is not active. The system will remember the last filter you selected if you deactivate the filter and activate it again later.

Note: To clear ALL active filters, in the top menu bar above the grid, there is a filter icon: clipboard_e4431da194d1e68d3049edf2b4fd81f52.png  On the dropdown, you can select Clear All Filters.

Multi-Value List Filter

For columns that are defined as having a filter type of List in Admin–>Column Headings, a multi-select dropdown will appear with selection choices.

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Note: You can define any field in Admin–>Column Headings to have a List filter, even if no “List” has been defined in Admin–>Lists. IWhen using column filters for List-type columns with no defined list, the system will automatically assemble the list selection from the available records in the view. Avoid defining columns with a List filter if a large volume of choices would appear and no list is defined (e.g., project name when there are thousands of projects).

Numeric Filter

For columns that are defined as having a filter type of Number in Admin–>Column Headings, a numeric selector will appear, allowing you to choose Less Than, Greater Than, and Equal combinations.

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Show/Hide Columns

You can show or hide columns by clicking on the dropdown arrow to the right of any column header and selecting Columns. This shows you the below dialog, which allows you to select or unselect which columns defined for the view should be shown on the view.

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Move Columns

You can move any column simply by clicking and dragging the column header. For instance, in the below diagram, a user clicked on Unit Priority and dragged it to just before Assignment Org. The system shows the field being moved in green, along with the green markers for placement.

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Lock Columns (Freeze Panes)

On all grid-type pages, one or more columns are “locked” automatically, meaning they are locked into the left scroll pane.

Some columns must always be locked. These fields do not have an “Unlock” option. The rules for mandatory locking are:

Project Pages                  Project Name is always locked

Resource Pages              Resource Name is always locked

Assignment Pages           Project name and Resource name are always locked

All other fields can be to the left or right of the “freeze” or “lock” line. Locked fields are to the left; unlocked field are to the right of the line.

When you Lock a field that is currently to the right, it is moved to the immediate left of the lock line.

When you Unlock a field that is currently to the left, it is moved to the immediate right of the lock line, NOT necessarily to its original position. However, you can move it to its original position simply by clicking and dragging the column header.

At the bottom of the screen are horizontal scroll bars that will appear for each segment as needed (the locked segment and the unlocked segment)

Note: Another major difference from MS Excel behavior is that the left pane can be scrolled horizontally if there are too many fields to display in the pane.

In the Assignments screenshot below:

  • Note the vertical freeze line between Required Skill and Unit Priority
  • Note the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom for the unlocked columns to the right of the freeze line. If you have additional unlocked columns that cannot fit on the screen, you can scroll to see them.

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Dragging and Filling Value Cells

On pages with editable values grids (e.g., Assignments, Capacity, etc.), you can perform common spreadsheet-like functions such as drag and fill, copy and paste multiple cells, etc.  Simply select your source cells, press enter so that no cells are currently in edit mode, and drag from the right (across or across and down as desired).

After changing any data be sure to click the Save button clipboard_e48b805e11fd3f4d0cc073984f7ba31f0.png in the upper right toolbar.

Important: When selecting cells on one or more rows, before you drag or press CTL-C to copy, you must press enter so that no cells are in edit mode. Likewise when selecting a cell to paste to. You must press enter so that the cell is not editable.

User Defined Views

Some pages with views (such as Assignments, Project or Resource Data, etc.) allow a user to create their own personal view, available whenever they need it. First, select an existing view from the drop down list that is similar to the one you want to create. In the example below, we have selected the “Forecast View”.  Then select the “Edit Views” icon:

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When you click the icon, you’ll be presented with the following dialog, which allows you to start from the selected view definition (the selected fields and their order), to use the arrows to add fields to the view or remove them, to click and drag the fields into the order desired, and to click “Save As” to save it with your own desired name. Then the view will be available to you whenever you need it (visible only to the user who created it).

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After you have saved a personal view, it will appear in the drop down list for that context, along with those defined by the administrator.

Note: If you are a Partition Administrator, you will see a Share button at the bottom of the dialog, which will allow you to share your view with all users in your partition. See Using Partitions for more information.

Exporting a Page to Excel (CSV format)

On the upper right control panel of most view pages, clicking the “Export” button images_image15.1.png generates an export CSV file for use with Microsoft Excel, and prompts you to download it to your computer. For instructions, see Export and Import Data on ResourceFirst Views.

Exporting the Database to Excel

You can also export the whole database to Excel (for instance if you intend to import it to another environment). This is generally done by administrators. See Exporting the Database for more.

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