Vizlib Gantt has a wizard to help you create a visualization quickly and easily, and also edit any existing charts you've created. It's activated when you add a Vizlib Gantt object from the Custom Objects menu to a sheet.
Note on Data Models: You will need to make some changes to your data model before you build your first chart using Vizlib Gantt. You can find our data model requirements guide here.
Getting Started
If you want to use the Gantt Wizard, follow these instructions (Figure 1).
- Click on Custom Objects in the far-left panel, to open the custom objects menu.
- Select Vizlib Gantt.
- Click and hold the cursor on Vizlib Gantt.
- Drag and drop the cursor into the sheet.
- Drag the table edge (highlighted in orange) to change the chart size.
- Click on Open Wizard to display the Template and Wizard panels.
Figure 1: Gantt Wizard
Template
Templates (Figure 2) are a useful way to start styling your Vizlib Gantt chart (although you can use the wizard to create a chart without applying one). You can read more about Vizlib Templates here.
- Click Template to open the template selection window.
- Choose the template you want and click on it to apply the styling.
- Once you've made your selection the Gantt Setup screen will open.
Figure 2: Template
Layout
The Layout panel will open the wizard without applying a template (Figure 3).
- Select Start with demo data if you'd like to create a chart with pre-selected field values.
- Click Start Wizard to open the Gantt Setup screen.
Note on Demo Data: If you choose Start with demo data you'll create a chart with pre-selected fields, but you'll still be able to use the wizard to modify the appearance of your chart.
Figure 3: Layout
Event Data
The first group of settings in Gantt Setup relate to Event Data (Figure 4).
- In the Events section, select a Search Event Field (required). You can also choose a Search Name Field and tick the checkbox to Show Labels (both optional).
- In the Dates section, select a Search Start Date (required). You can also set the End Type and select a Search End Date (optional).
- In the Display section, choose whether to show a Progress or an Event Tag in the chart.
- The Preview area shows you how an event will be displayed in the chart.
- Click Next when you've completed your changes to open the Groups settings.
Figure 4: Event Data
Groups
The next group of settings in Gantt Setup relate to Groups (Figure 5).
Note on Cascading Events: This is a new feature in Vizlib Gantt which means an Event can be chosen as a Group.
- Tick the checkboxes to have Cascading Events, Header in Parent Group, Show Order Number or Expand All features in your chart.
- Select values for a Sub Event Group and Event Group (required) using the dropdowns. You can also add a Parent Event Group (optional).
- In the Colors and Theming section, select an option for the event bar color and choose a color Palette using the dropdown.
- The Preview area shows you how a group will be displayed in the chart.
- Click Next when you've completed your changes to open the Milestones settings.
Figure 5: Groups
Milestones
This step in the Gantt Setup allows for the automatic identification of Milestones (Figure 6).
- If the Event's start and end dates are the same, then it will be treated as a milestone.
- You can choose whether the Milestone event label is shown by selecting Show Labels.
- We provide different options to customise how these Milestone events are displayed. You can also change this in the Property Panel.
- Click Next when you've completed your changes to open the Timeline settings.
Figure 6: Timeline
Timeline
The last group of settings in Gantt Setup relate to the Timeline (Figure 7).
- Tick the checkboxes if you want to Highlight Weekends or Highlight Current Date in your chart.
- Use the radio buttons to choose a Default Focus Date and a Default Time Range.
- The Preview area shows you how a group will be displayed in the chart.
- Click Create when you've completed your changes to open your chart.
Figure 7: Timeline
Editing a Chart
You can edit your chart settings in the property panel, but you can also use the Gantt Wizard. If you choose to remove one of the required fields (Search Event Field, Event Start Date) the wizard start page replaces the chart. While the property panel has a wider range of options for customizing chart settings, they will be carried over to the wizard for edits.
- Any color palette you apply to the chart will be added to the Palette dropdown in the wizard.
- Any expression you enter in the property panel will be carried over to the wizard.
- The Custom option for the Default Time Range can be used to apply any custom values from the property panel.