Configuring Timeline Chart Properties

In the timeline chart, you can configure the fields that are displayed for roadmap objects (for example, Product) and milestone objects (for example, Task) using settings in the emxProductLine.properties file. Out of the box timeline functionality is provided for products and tasks but you can configure these settings to get the timeline chart for other objects.

Before you begin: Locate the ENOVIA Product Line Management properties file, emxProductLine.properties, in SERVERHOME/managed/properties/. The properties files for all ENOVIA applications are located in the SERVERHOME/managed/properties/ directory.

  1. To configure the symbolic name of the relationship that is used to retrieve all the milestones for the roadmap object, follow these steps:

    1. Locate this line:

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Relationship=relationship_RoadmapTask

    2. Set the property to the symbolic name you would like to use.

  2. To configure the attribute on the milestone relationship that is used to retrieve the milestone type information, follow these steps:

    1. Locate this line:

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Title=attribute_MilestoneType

    2. Set the property to the attribute you would like to use.

  3. To configure the details that are shown for a roadmap object as a tool-tip over the object image, follow these steps for each type:

    If more than one field is to be displayed then it is specified using a comma separated string.

    1. Locate these lines:

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Object.Details.type_Products=description

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Object.DetailLabels.type_Products=emxFramework.Basic.Description

      The first setting is used to determine the actual field value to be displayed. The second setting is used to determine the label for the field. If any attribute is to be displayed, then the symbolic name of the attribute must be specified. The label must be a key in the emxProductStringResource.properties file, to support internationalization.

    2. Set the properties to the details you would like shown. By default, the product description is shown for type Product.

  4. To configure the details that are shown for a milestone object as a tool-tip over the object image, follow these steps for each type:

    If more than one field is to be displayed then it is specified using a comma separated string.

    1. Locate these lines:

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Details.type_Task=startDate,finishDate

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.DetailLabels.type_Task=startDate,finishDate

      The first setting is used to determine the actual field value to be displayed while the second setting is used to determine the label for the field. If any attribute is to be displayed then the symbolic name of the attribute has to be specified. The label must be a key in the application string-resource file, to support internationalization.

      The two words startdate and finishdate are reserved for this setting and if these words are specified in then the estimated start date and end date of the milestone object will be displayed. But if the milestone is finished then actual start date and actual end date will be displayed. The following attributes of the milestone object will be used for fetching these fields:

      • Task Estimated Start Date
      • Task Estimated End Date
      • Task Actual Start Date
      • Task Actual End Date

    2. Set the properties to the details you would like displayed. By default, the start date and end date of the task are displayed in the timeline chart.

  5. To support subtypes of a task in the product roadmap, you need to add a property for each subtype. For example, suppose you add subtypes of Task Management called Phase and Milestone. You would then need to add the following entries to the emxProductLine.properties file:

    emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Details.type_Phase=startDate,finishDate

    emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.DetailLabels.type_Phase=startDate,FinishDate

    emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Details.type_Milestone=startDate,finishDate

    emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.DetailLabels.type_Milestone=startDate,finishDate

  6. To specify the default image to be used for the roadmap object if there is no primary image set for the object, follow these steps:

    1. Locate this line:

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Object.Image.Default=${COMMON_DIR}/images/utilUndefinedImage.gif

    2. Set the property to the image you would like to use.

  7. To specify the display image for each milestone type, follow these steps:

    The different milestone types are nothing but the range values of the attributes specified in the setting emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Title. For each range value one setting has to be added in the property file.

    1. Locate these lines:

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Icon.Start=${COMMON_DIR}/images/iconStatusStarted.gif

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Icon.Launch=${COMMON_DIR}/images/iconStatusLaunched.gif

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Icon.Milestone=${COMMON_DIR}/images/iconStatusVendorReviewed.gif

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Icon.End=${COMMON_DIR}/images/iconStatusFinished.gif

    2. Set the properties to the image you would like to use for each milestone type.

  8. To specify the symbolic name of the attribute on the roadmap relationship that is used to retrieve the date preference (Start or Finish) to be used to plot the particular milestone, follow these steps:

    1. Locate these lines:

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Date=attribute_Date

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Date.Start = Start

      emxProduct.Roadmap.Milestone.Date.End = End

    2. Set the properties to the range values you would like to use for the milestone.

  9. In the product timeline chart, the primary image associated with the product is displayed along with its marketing name. If there is no image for the product then a default image is displayed as defined in the property file. To display the primary image, the image icon associated with primary image object is retrieved. The method createPrimaryImage () has been added to emxImageBase.java to set the icon of the image object. This method is invoked when the image file is checked into the image object.

    This method first checks out the image file into the temporary location.

    After the file is checked out, first it is converted to a thumbnail using a third part tool called Image Magick and then the thumbnail is set as icon of the image object. If Image Magick is not installed then the same file is set as image icon.

    If the generation of the image object icon is not required, then you can disable this functionality with the following steps:

    Comment call to the method createPrimaryImage() in method checkin() of emxImageBase.java.

    Compile the JPOs emxImageBase.java and emxImage.java.