Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop

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bigred
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Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop

Post by bigred »

It would be great to be able to change the order of tasks in each section of the consolidated view by applying drag and drop to a task without losing the entry in the task's parent task field. For example, in the OVERDUE section of the consolidated view (grouped by Due Date), I would like to be able to drag a task from, say, the middle of the third screen to near the top of the OVERDUE list without causing the entry in the parent task field to be deleted from the task.

Currently the only way I know to change the position of a task in a section of the consolidated screen and preserve the parent task is with Move Up and Move Down. This becomes very tedious if there are a lot of changes needed, which happens frequently in my normal usage of EPIM Pro because the top 15 to 20 items in the OVERDUE section become my To Do list for the day. I therefore use drag and drop a lot because it's much faster, even though it almost always causes the parent task to be deleted and so I have to look up and remember the parent task first and then add the parent task back in when the drop has been completed. It seems to be an unnecessary complication to have to reenter the parent task every time a task is repositioned. Could this apparent glitch be corrected?
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Re: Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop

Post by admin »

Please make a short video demonstrating the suggestion so that we could understand it better. Thanks.
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Re: Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop

Post by bigred »

Please bear with me while I learn to screen record in Windows 10. Should be interesting.
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Re: Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop

Post by bigred »

I apologize for my inability to make the short video you requested. As an alternative I now offer you a post containing text and screenshots.

In preparing this post I realized that the subject heading of the thread is inaccurate. The problem is not that drag and drop can cause a parent task to be deleted; it is that drag and drop can cause a task which is being moved to lose its hierarchical position in the Tasks database.

A task's position in the Tasks hierarchy is specified first by its LIST OF ORIGIN and then by its PATH. This is illustrated here with a list of TODAY's tasks in Consolidated view grouped by Due Date. The three columns displayed are SUBJECT, LIST OF ORIGIN and PATH.

Screenshot 2023-10-02 150639.png

Take a look at the lowest task on the TODAY task list. Note that the task'S SUBJECT is "** HVAC - GET FURNACE REPAIRED **", its LIST OF ORIGIN is "Dwelling" and its PATH is "\House\HVAC\".

Suppose I want to move that task to the top of the TODAY list without disturbing its position in the Tasks hierarchy. I select the task:

Screenshot 2023-10-02 153044.png

and then drag and drop it at the top of the list:

Screenshot 2023-10-02 153416.png

The result is unacceptable because the task's position in the Tasks hierarchy has changed. The task's LIST OF ORIGIN is still "Dwelling" but its PATH is now "\" instead of "\House\HVAC\".

Contrast that with what happens if I use the "Move Up" button to move the same task step-by-step from the bottom of the list to the top. From the original starting point I select the task "** HVAC - GET FURNACE REPAIRED **":

Screenshot 2023-10-02 153044.png

I click the "Move Up" button once and succeed in moving the task up one line with its original hierarchical position perfectly preserved:

Screenshot 2023-10-02 162806.png

With the task "** HVAC - GET FURNACE REPAIRED **" still selected, I click the "Move Up" button 11 more times and succeed in moving the task to the top of the list with its hierarchical position still preserved:

Screenshot 2023-10-02 163135.png

This shows that it is possible to move a task up the list without damaging the hierarchical structure of the Tasks database, but not with "drag and drop". Evidently the difference is in the design of the two tools, "Move Up" and "drag and drop", and I must use "Move Up" (and "Move Down") to avoid hierarchical damage.

But there is an obvious problem. Repeated use of "Move Up" is relatively tedious, especially if there are many tasks to be repositioned in a much longer list than I have used in this demonstration. It would therefore be beneficial to attempt to modify the "drag and drop" tool so that it protects the hierarchical position of the task being moved in the same way that "Move Up" protects the task's hierarchical position. This would allow much quicker rearrangement of tasks on both the TODAY list and the OVERDUE list than can be achieved with multiple applications of "Move Up" and "Move Down".

HELPFUL HINT:
If anyone chooses to use the present defective "drag and drop" function as described above, there is a fairly easy way to restore the ORIGIN and PATH data and recover the original hierarchical structure. First, display the LIST OF ORIGIN and PATH columns on the Consolidated view Tasks screen. Then, before you begin to drag and drop a task in Consolidated view grouped by Due Date, open the individual task window and manually copy its ORIGIN and PATH data from the main Tasks screen to the notes section of the individual task window. In the drag and drop example above, the resulting individual task window would look like this:

Screenshot 2023-10-02 202703.png

Now save and close the individual task window (click OK). On the main Tasks screen, use "drag and drop" to move the selected task to its new required position.

Screenshot 2023-10-02 153416.png

Reopen the individual task window:

Screenshot 2023-10-02 202703.png

and click the "More Options" switch near the bottom of the left column to expand the task window:

Screenshot 2023-10-02 234352.png

In the More Options section, immediately below the "No Template" box, there are two boxes. The left box is for the LIST OF ORIGIN and the right box is for the PATH. Use the LIST OF ORIGIN dropdown box to select the required entry (e.g. "Dwelling") and then navigate through the PATH peepshow box to select the required path (e.g. "House" on the first level and then "HVAC" on the second level).

Screenshot 2023-10-02 203558.png

Note that the PATH box lacks the ability to display more than one level in the path at a time and so only the final level "HVAC" appears even though you have entered "\House\HVAC\".

Now click OK and the original hierarchical position of the task will be restored.

Screenshot 2023-10-02 163135.png

This demo was prepared using EssentialPIM Pro 11.7.1 running on Windows 11, version 22H2.

Screenshot 2023-10-02 180151.png
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Re: Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop

Post by admin »

Thank you for providing a detailed description of the problem. In order to assist you further, we need to know the start and due date values for the tasks involved. To facilitate this process, the simplest method would be to copy and paste the tasks into a new database and then forward it to us.
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Re: Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop

Post by bigred »

I could do what you ask but to what end? Copying the tasks from my demonstration Tasks database into a new database will not include the hierarchical structure of the original Tasks database. None of the tasks will have a LIST OF ORIGIN, nor will any of them have a PATH. You will therefore be unable to test whether moving a task up or down the Tasks list alters the task's position in the hierarchical structure. Not very helpful considering that the whole point of this effort is to find a way to change the position of a task in its Due Date group (e.g. the TODAY group or the OVERDUE group) by drag and drop without altering or losing the task's hierarchical position in the Tasks database.

Or am I misunderstanding something? Can I copy each task from my demonstration Tasks database into a new database and bring its hierarchical position data along with it? Will that create a usable tree?

Wouldn't it be better for me to make a few tweaks to my existing demonstration Tasks database, primarily to address privacy issues, and let you use it as a working model in which you can experiment yourselves with using different methods to move tasks up and down on the Tasks screen and watch whether the LIST OF ORIGIN and/or PATH are unintentionally altered? You could also try out my HELPFUL HINT for restoring a task's LIST OF ORIGIN and PATH data and recovering its original hierarchical structure after it has been damaged by a drag and drop. If you would like me to do that, I suggest that I set the start date/time and due date/time of all the tasks to be in the past so that they all appear in the OVERDUE Due Date group. It won't represent good management but it will save you from having to change all the task's due dates every 24 hours to keep them in the TODAY Due Date group.

There is another issue that needs attention. Your statement that "we need to know the start and due date values for the tasks involved" leads me to believe that we are not understanding each other very well. The hierarchical properties of a task in the Tasks database are totally independent of start date/time and due date/time. This is not about something like "what happens when a task jumps from the TODAY group to the OVERDUE group". The task's hierarchical position in the Tasks database should be entirely unaffected by whether the task is in the OVERDUE group, or the TODAY group, or TOMORROW, or THIS WEEK, or NEXT WEEK, etc. In any case, the whole point of this effort is to find a way to change the position of a task in its Due Date group (e.g. the TODAY group or the OVERDUE group) by drag and drop without altering or losing the task's hierarchical position in the Tasks database. I have never seen any indication that drag and drop causes changes in start date/time and due date/time.

I admit that I may be partially responsible for the confusion between us because I mistakenly used the phrase "preserve parent task" in the subject heading of this thread: "Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop". I was misled by the label "No parent task" which appears in the PATH box of an individual task screen if the task has not been assigned to a sub-group in the relevant LIST OF ORIGIN group. I have since realized that the PATH box never contains the name of a task because any PATH entry must be the name of the lowest level hierarchical group which contains the task described by the individual task screen. Other people may be similarly misled as long as an empty PATH box displays "No parent task". Personally I would replace that label with "No sub-group" because I would then immediately recognize that the task falls within the top level of the group identified in the LIST OF ORIGIN box.
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Re: Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop

Post by admin »

In order for us to address and resolve the issue, it is crucial that we are able to reproduce it. Unfortunately, the screenshots you provided do not contain enough visible information, such as timestamps, for us to fully get to the source of the problem. To assist us in reproducing the issue, you could also create a few sample tasks with dummy data and share them with us. Thanks.
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bigred
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Re: Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop

Post by bigred »

I am pleased that you want to be able to reproduce the issue. However, I am very concerned that you have twice asked me to send you simple additional information which absolutely will not enable you to reproduce the issue.

The issue can only occur in a Tasks database which has a hierarchical structure. You would need me to send you an example of a Tasks database with a hierarchical structure.

Or you could create one yourselves. Have you ever actually created and tested a Tasks database with a hierarchical structure?
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Re: Consolidated view: preserve parent task during drag and drop

Post by admin »

I believe this improvement should have been implemented in the latest version of EPIM, which is 11.7.2.
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