Vizlib Gantt | Dependencies / Critical Flow

Luke Tolchard

Modified on: Mon, 14 Aug, 2023 at 2:28 PM

Creating Dependencies by adding an Order ID and a Predecessor

Vizlib Gantt supports Dependencies, which are added and defined in the Dimensions section of the property panel.

We base our logic on the popular project planning tool MS Project; therefore, files with that data structure are compatible with Vizlib Gantt.

NOTE: To create dependencies, we recommend you have an Order ID and a Predecessor ID column in your dataset to link the events. You don't need the Order ID column in your dataset as long as the field you are referencing in the Predecessor column has a unique value. This documentation will assume you have an Order ID column.

In Figure 1 the highlighted columns show how the Order and Predecessors column reference one another.

Figure 1 - Example dataset with an Order and a Predecessor column to create dependencies in a Vizlib Gantt chart.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Creating Dependencies by adding an Order ID and a Predecessor
Appearance and Styling options
Example of Dependencies in Vizlib Gantt

Adding the Event Order

Follow the setup guide for the Vizlib Gantt Setup Wizard and consider steps 1, 2, and 3 when populating the Wizard when using Dependencies.

NOTE: Dependencies are only visible after you define them in the property panel under the first dimension in Figure 4.

In Event Field (1), select the column with the Event Order ID.
(Optional step) In Name Field (2), you can change the field's name to represent a more meaningful name.
Complete the rest of the Setup Wizard as you would normally.

Figure 2 - Gantt event dependencies orders

Adding Dependencies

There are four Dependency links: Finish to Start (most common), Start to Start, Start to Finish, and Finish to Finish. Vizlib Gantt checks your data and visualizes the data based on the Order number you've assigned in your data set.

Figure 3 - Dependency types

NOTE: Currently, the Vizlib Gantt only supports Finish to Start event linking.

The Predecessors field is set within the first dimension:

Select the Vizlib Gantt chart and expand the first dimension.
(Optional step) Scroll down and tick the check box Cascading events [Figure 4]. This design choice makes event linking more obvious (each event has its own row).
Scroll to the Draw dependencies feature and toggle it to Enabled.
In the Predecessors input field, click the expression button to view the list of fields.
Insert your Predecessors field and click Apply.
The outcome should look similar to Figure 5.


Figure 4 - Select the Predecessors field.	Figure 5 - Applying Cascading Events format.

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Dependencies with dates that are far away

Event dependencies that link to or are being liked to events not rendered within Gantt's view area are presented with a dashed line at the beginning or end of the Event, as seen in Figure 6 ( ----- / ----> ).