Items collection

To load and present data with GanttChartDataGrid control, initialize the Items collection of the component, setting up GanttChartItem objects representing timeline tasks identified by these main properties: Indentation, Content, Start, Finish, CompletedFinish, IsMilestone, AssignmentsContent, and Predecessors.

Summary items are determined by checking Indentation levels of subsequent items, and can be expanded or collapsed. Standard items are presented as rectangular bars, and milestones as special diamond shapes in the view. Completion rate of a standard item is determined by evaluating CompletedFinish value, representing the date and time up to which the effort is currently considered completed. By convention, AssignmentsContent value may be a string that specifies the resource assignments of the item with optional allocation units in classic format: Resource 1, Resource 2 [50%].

Predecessors collection (objects of type PredecessorItem) defines item dependencies and are identified by these properties: Item, DependencyType, and Lag. DependencyType may be finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, or start-to-finish. An optional lag time span is also supported for item dependencies. Multiple types of time constraints may also be defined for Start and Finish values of task items using special properties: MinStart, MaxStart, MinFinish, and MaxFinish.

You may set an ID or GUID for any item object as Key and GlobalKey property values, useful when mapping to relational data storage access layers. A generic Tag property is also available to support miscellaneous object linking scenarios.

var items = new ObservableCollection<GanttChartItem>
{
    new GanttChartItem { Content = "Task 1", IsExpanded = false },
    new GanttChartItem { Content = "Task 1.1", Indentation = 1, 
                         Start = new DateTime(year, month, 2, 8, 0, 0), Finish = new DateTime(year, month, 4, 16, 0, 0) },
    new GanttChartItem { Content = "Task 1.2", Indentation = 1, 
                         Start = new DateTime(year, month, 3, 8, 0, 0), Finish = new DateTime(year, month, 5, 12, 0, 0) },
    new GanttChartItem { Content = "Task 2", IsExpanded = true },
    new GanttChartItem { Content = "Task 2.1", Indentation = 1, 
                         Start = new DateTime(year, month, 2, 8, 0, 0), Finish = new DateTime(year, month, 8, 16, 0, 0), 
                         CompletedFinish = new DateTime(year, month, 5, 16, 0, 0), AssignmentsContent = "Resource 1, Resource 2 [50%]" },
    new GanttChartItem { Content = "Task 2.2", Indentation = 1 },
    new GanttChartItem { Content = "Task 2.2.1", Indentation = 2, 
                         Start = new DateTime(year, month, 11, 8, 0, 0), Finish = new DateTime(year, month, 12, 16, 0, 0), 
                         CompletedFinish = new DateTime(year, month, 12, 16, 0, 0), AssignmentsContent = "Resource 2" },
    new GanttChartItem { Content = "Task 2.2.2", Indentation = 2, 
                         Start = new DateTime(year, month, 12, 12, 0, 0), Finish = new DateTime(year, month, 14, 16, 0, 0), 
                         AssignmentsContent = "Resource 2" },
    new GanttChartItem { Content = "Task 3", Indentation = 1, 
                         Start = new DateTime(year, month, 15, 16, 0, 0), IsMilestone = true }
};
items[3].Predecessors.Add(new PredecessorItem { Item = items[0], DependencyType = DependencyType.StartStart });
items[7].Predecessors.Add(new PredecessorItem { Item = items[6], Lag = TimeSpan.FromHours(2) });
items[8].Predecessors.Add(new PredecessorItem { Item = items[4] });
items[8].Predecessors.Add(new PredecessorItem { Item = items[5] });
GanttChartDataGrid.Items = items;

                        

Drag and drop

End users may use drag and drop operations to reschedule bars, update start, finish and completion values independently, and create all types of dependencies between items directly from the chart area.

Edit and Undo operations

Copy and Paste operations are available as built-in features of the component. Data is copied to the Clipboard as tab separated values so they may be easily pasted into Microsoft Excel® sheets or other applications with tabular data import support. Move, MoveUp, and MoveDown operations allow moving selected items in the hierarchy, with or without child items. You may even configure a Thumb element in a column cell template definition to allow visual drag and drop operations for moving items around.

A built-in undo queue is available, with Undo and Redo operations that may be easily called from code.

Performance

We have designed the component to achieve maximum runtime performance, loading and displaying thousands of items while remaining highly responsive. The control has IsAsyncPresentationEnabled and IsVirtualizing properties set to true by default, so asynchronous data loading and user interface virtualization are turned on unless you set them off manually.

Project management features and Microsoft® Project compatibility

Besides data visualization features, the component offers built-in computed properties such as Duration, Effort, CompletedEffort, Completion, Cost, etc., project management algorithms such as baseline initialization and visualization, auto scheduling, critical path enumeration, work optimization, and allocation and resource leveling, optionally based on pre-initialized generic or individual resource usage costs and material resource quantities.

The component supports loading and saving data in Microsoft Project® XML format with LoadProjectXml and SaveProjectXml methods, allowing you to import and export Microsoft Project® files with ease.

Moreover, ProjectXmlSerializer offers support for further customizing the way actual loading and saving operations occur, allowing you to inject custom code for XML parsing and generation with handler methods on specific events.

var effort = item.TotalEffort; 
var percentCompleted = item.Completion * 100;
GanttChartDataGrid.SetupBaseline(); GanttChartDataGrid.IsBaselineVisible = true; 
GanttChartDataGrid.AreTaskDependencyConstraintsEnabled = true;
foreach (criticalItem in GanttChartDataGrid.GetCriticalItems()) { … }
GanttChartDataGrid.SpecificResourceHourCosts = …;
GanttChartDataGrid.ResourceQuantities = …;
GanttChartDataGrid.OptimizeWork();
GanttChartDataGrid.LevelAllocations(); 
GanttChartDataGrid.LevelResources();

                        

var projectXml = GanttChartDataGrid.GetProjectXml();
GanttChartDataGrid.LoadProjectXml(projectXml);

                        

Microsoft® Excel adapter

Using Project XML formatted content as input, you can also use DlhSoft's ProjectManagementXlsx Adapter API (open source) to generate Excel® files and share task information with more ease. And, of course, you import tasks from an Excel® sheet through Microsoft® Project XML format back into a Gantt Chart component, too.

Excel® serialization support is available as well through a separate NuGet package.

The adapter requires a license for Project Management Framework. Light Library licensees can order a free license for the secondary product.

var excelBytes = File.ReadAllBytes(source);
var projectXml = ProjectManagementXslx.Adapter.GetProjectXml(excelBytes);

                        

var projectXml = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(File.ReadAllBytes(source));
var excelBytes = ProjectManagementXslx.Adapter.GetExcelBytes(projectXml);

                        

Data binding

Although we designed the component to support items of specific types only (GanttChartItem) to ensure high runtime performance, you may use our built-in collection converter (TaskItemsConverter) to set up data binding to custom collection types with ease. Alternatively, you can use a fully custom converter to provide collection synchronization upon your own needs.

The component is persistence layer independent, so you can bind it to data collections from virtually any data source, including but not limited to SQL Server® databases.

Printing and image exporting

The component offers a Print method that may be called to initiate a direct print operation for its content. A custom PrintingTemplate definition that you can specify using XAML is repeatedly used when generating the printed pages.

Moreover, you can export scalable images of the component content by calling GetBitmapSource method on the fly. For example, you may then encode an output image to an external file format such as PNG, include the image into an element displayed in a custom printed document, or simply displaying it as read only content on the screen.

GanttChartDataGrid.Print("Sample Document");

                        

GanttChartDataGrid.Export((Action)delegate
{
    SaveFileDialog saveFileDialog = 
        new SaveFileDialog { Title = "Export Image To", Filter = "PNG image files|*.png" };
    if (saveFileDialog.ShowDialog() != true)
        return;
    BitmapSource bitmapSource = GanttChartDataGrid.GetExportBitmapSource(96 * 2);
    using (Stream stream = saveFileDialog.OpenFile())
    {
        PngBitmapEncoder pngBitmapEncoder = new PngBitmapEncoder();
        pngBitmapEncoder.Frames.Add(BitmapFrame.Create(bitmapSource));
        pngBitmapEncoder.Save(stream);
    }
});

                        

Windows® Forms

You may use the WPF component in Windows® Forms applications using Microsoft® ElementHost control from WindowsFormsIntegration assembly of .NET 4+.

Optionally, you can define a XAML user control in your Windows® Forms project to serve for encapsulation.

var items = …;
var host = new ElementHost 
{ 
    Child = new GanttChartDataGrid 
    { 
        Items = items,
        …
    }, 
    Dock = DockStyle.Fill 
};
Controls.Add(host);