Overview of Task Management Features in JavaScript Gantt Chart

Managing tasks in the JavaScript Gantt Chart control enables dynamic project updates, such as inserting, deleting, or editing tasks and dependencies, by enabling allowAdding, allowDeleting, allowEditing, and allowTaskbarEditing with Edit module injected. A primary key column, defined by columns.isPrimaryKey set to true (e.g., on id), ensures reliable CRUD operations and task identification. Editing modes include cell editing for quick TreeGrid updates, dialog editing for comprehensive changes, taskbar dragging for duration or date adjustments, and connector line dragging for dependencies. Customize dialogs with templates or fields using addDialogFields and editDialogFields. Methods like addRecord, deleteRow, and updateRecordById support programmatic management. Ensure valid taskFields mappings and a primary key to enable editing seamlessly.

Editing feature requires a primary key column for CRUD operations. While defining columns in Gantt Chart using the columns property, it is mandatory that any one of the columns, must be a primary column. By default, the id column will be the primary key column. If id column is not defined, we need to enable isPrimaryKey for any one of the columns defined in the columns property.

Open new task dialog with default values

You can set default values when new task dialog opens using actionBegin event when requestType is beforeOpenAddDialog.

Cell edit type and its params

The columns.editType is used to define the edit type for any particular column. You can set the columns.editType based on data type of the column.

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• Cell edit types and components:
  • numericedit: Uses the NumericTextBox control for editing integers, doubles, and decimals.
  • defaultedit: Uses the TextBox control for editing string data.
  • dropdownedit: Uses the DropDownList control to display all unique values for a field.
  • booleanedit: Uses the CheckBox control for editing boolean data.
  • datepickeredit: Uses the DatePicker control for editing date data.
  • datetimepickeredit: Uses the DateTimePicker control for editing date-time data.
• Customization:
  • Customize editor control behavior using the columns.edit.params property.
• Edit type parameters:
  • numericedit: Supports parameters like decimals: 2, value: 5.
  • dropdownedit: Supports parameters like value: 'Germany'.
  • booleanedit: Supports parameters like checked: true.
  • datepickeredit: Supports parameters like format: 'dd.MM.yyyy'.
  • datetimepickeredit: Supports parameters like value: new Date().

Prevent particular column and taskbar editing

You can prevent editing for the particular column by setting columns.allowEditing to false.

To restrict taskbar editing, set args.cancel to true in the actionBegin event based on taskbarEditAction.

Cell Edit Template

The cell edit template is used to create a custom control for a particular column by invoking the following functions:

• create - It is used to create the element at the time of initialization.

• write - It is used to create the custom control or assign default value at the time of editing.

• read - It is used to read the value from the control at the time of save.

• destroy - It is used to destroy the control.

Disable editing for particular column

You can disable editing for particular columns, by using the columns.allowEditing property.

In the following demo, editing is disabled for the TaskName column.

Customize control in add/edit dialog

In Gantt Chart, the controls such as form elements, grid and RTE in add and edit dialog can be customized by using additionalParams property.

Customize general tab of dialog

The form element in the General tab of the add/edit dialog can be added or removed by using the fields property within the addDialogFields and editDialogFields settings respectively.

The controls of the fields can be customized by using the edit template feature.

In the below sample, General tab is customized using the fields property. The fields TaskID, TaskName and newInput are added in both addDialogFields and editDialogFields settings.

Customize dependency, segments and resources tab of dialog

You can customize the dependency, segments, and resource tabs of the dialog box using the additionalParams property within the addDialogFields and editDialogFields settings respectively. This customization involves defining properties from the grid within the additionalParams property.

In the example below:

• The dependency tab enables sorting and toolbar options.
• The segments tab enables sorting and toolbar options and includes a new column newData defined with a specified field.
• The resources tab defines a new column Segment Task with specific properties such as field, width and headerText.
  These customizations are applied to both addDialogFields and editDialogFields settings.

Customize note dialog tab

You can customize the note dialog tab using the additionalParams property within the addDialogFields and editDialogFields settings respectively. This customization involves defining properties from the RTE module within the additionalParams property.

In the following example, the notes tab is customized with the inlinemode property enabled, allowing for in-place editing. Additionally, the OnSelection property is enabled, which opens the toolbar inline upon selecting text.

Touch interaction

The Gantt control editing actions can be achieved using the double tap and tap and drag actions on a element.

The following table describes different types of editing modes available in Gantt.

Action	Description
Cell editing	To perform double tap on a specific cell, initiate the cell to be in edit state.
Dialog editing	To perform double tap on a specific row, initiate the edit dialog to be opened.
Taskbar editing	Taskbar editing action is initiated using the tap action on the taskbar. Parent taskbar : Once you tap on the parent taskbar, it will be changed to editing state. Perform only dragging action on parent taskbar editing. Child taskbar : Once you tap the child taskbar, it will be changed to editing state. Dragging taskbar : To drag a taskbar to the left or right in editing state. Resizing taskbar : To resize a taskbar, drag the left/right resize icon. Progress resizing : To change the progress, drag the progress resize icon to the left or right direction.

Task dependency editing

You can tap the left/right connector point to initiate task dependencies edit mode and again tap another taskbar to establish the dependency line between two taskbars.

The following table explains the taskbar state in dependency edit mode.

Taskbar state	Description
Parent taskbar	You cannot create dependency relationship to parent tasks.
Taskbar without dependency	If you tap a valid child taskbar, it will create FS type dependency line between tasks, otherwise exits from task dependency edit mode.
Taskbar with dependency	If you tap the second taskbar, which has already been directly connected, it will ask to remove it.
Removing dependency	Once you tap the taskbar with direct dependency, then confirmation dialog will be shown for removing dependency.

Note: In mobile device, you cannot create dependency other than FS by taskbar editing. By using cell/dialog editing, you can add all type of dependencies.

Taskbar editing tooltip

The taskbar editing tooltip can be customized using the tooltipSettings.editing property. The following code example shows how to customize the taskbar editing tooltip in Gantt.

See also

• How to add new tasks?
• How to delete tasks?
• How to manage task dependencies?
• How to configure critical path?