Customized Fields

In addition to my post... I want it to view in grouping like this;
January
Task 1
Task 2
February
Task 3
Task 4
March
Task 5
Task 6
April
Task 7
Task 8

but instead it shows me arranged alphabeltically...
April
Task 7
Task 8
February
Task 3
Task 4
March
Task 5
Task 6
January
Task 1
Task 2

I need your expert advice please...

regards

Ronaldo,
it works well with MS Project 2003; are you using MS Project 2007 by the way? it is plenty of bugs, you should upgrade to SP1
Alexandre

Alexandre,
Thanks for your reply, i’m using MSP2003. Still, it doesn’t work on me. It shows me the grouping alphabetically & not the way i’ve arranged them by row.

It groups like this;
April
February
March
January

I wanted to group them as below;
January
February
March
April

I may be skipping some steps. I tried to fix it but unfortunately failed to do so. Can u give me some advice.

regards

Ronaldo,
I did this way
Custom field = Text1 (Task)
List of values, no default value, user cannot enter his own values
Code Description
1 a January
2 b February
3 c March
4 d April
I added Text1 to some task table, then:
When I select one value in the drop down list, I can only see the codes
When I build a group on Text1, my taks are correctly sorted, starting with January, ending with April (in my test)
All the best
Alexandre

Alexandre,
From the "Value list for..." (Customize Fields of Text1),
I created the ff.:

Row: 1,2,3,4
Value:a,b,c,d
Description:January, February, March,April
...respectively

no check "For use a value from..."
...i checked "Allow addt’l..." & "Append.." and
checked "By row number" under "Display order for dropdown list"

Still , I didn’t get the order that i wanted.

regards

Oh, damned!
my precedent post should read
Value: 1, 2, 3, 4
Description: "a January", "b February", aso
Alexandre

Thanks anyway, but i think this is one of the bugs of MSP2003.. by the way i also tried MSP 2007 before but i shifted back to MSP2003 ’coz of so many bugs in 2007 especially in grouping & outline codes...
more power in planning...

Ronaldo,
I am working on MSP 2003 Pro SP1
Alexandre

Alexandre,
Same here...
Ronaldo

Hi Ronaldo,

I use MS Project 2k3 SP2 and Alexandre’s suggestion worked fine for me. I also tried these values:

Month 1: Jan
Month 2: Feb
Month 3: Mar
Month 4: Apr

They worked as well.

Have you tried this out on any other project files and are getting the same results, or is it just the one project you’re having this problem with?

Regards,

Darren

Hi Darren,

If u input those data, it is alphabetically arrrnaged, try to input them as follows;

January
February
March
April

please try to remove Months 1/2/3/4 from the field Value...

Regards

Ronaldo,

I don’t think there is a way to stop MS Project grouping alphanumerically. Many, if not all, Microsoft applications sort from A-Z or Z-A, try creating folders in Windows Explorer and Outlook and you’ll get the same result.

It is exactly for this reason you need ‘persuade’ MS Project to group as you require, by including an alphanumeric prefix for January / February / March / etc.

I tested your problem using four rows (1 / 2 / 3 / 4) and four values (a Jan / b Feb / c Mar / d Apr). I didn’t use a description. I also ticked the same check boxes you described in Post #1. This method grouped as follows:

a Jan
b Feb
c Mar
d Apr

Without the prefixes MS Project grouped alphabetically.

All I can suggest is if you are already using a prefix and when you group it still doesn’t display the values in the order you require, try recreating the Value list criteria in a spare text field.

Again if it doesn’t group correctly, try creating a new file to use as a test file and inserting four tasks. Use the same Value List criteria and see if you have the same problem. If you don’t, it may be a problem with the original file. If you do, it may be a problem with MS Project itself.

Regards,

Darren

Darren,

This only proves that choosing "By row number" under "Display order..." does not work for the purpose.

Thanks anyway, i’ve been using this for quite some time, I thought there’s a way to resolve this without using prefix.


Thanks,

Ronaldo

Ronaldo,

I think that ‘By row number’ only applies to how they are displayed in the drop-down list, not when then are grouped.

You can define group intervals in the ‘Customize Group By’ dialog box, but even that functionality is extremely limited.

I don’t see any other way apart from prefixing I’m afraid.

Regards,

Darren