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-   -   Shared ideas from OmniOutliner regarding export? (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=1729)

zopepaul 2006-09-20 08:53 AM

Shared ideas from OmniOutliner regarding export?
 
Hi all. First, I'm using OmniPlan 0.6b for a real project and I've been very pleased with it.

OmniOutliner has some features that I'd like to ask about in relation to where OmniPlan might be going:

1) XML file with a DTD. An OmniPlan bundle is basically a contents.xml in plist format. An OmniOutliner bundle, though, is much richer. Specifically, the XML grammar has a DTD and some real semantics. What is the future of the file formats for the two products?

2) XSLT save-as. OmniOutliner allows you to register an XSLT in a little bundle, and have it show up in the GUI as an export option. I have really found this useful as a way to have customer data processing, formatting, and report generation.

OmniPlan, on the other hand, has a "Customize HTML Templates" which uses a different approach to HTML generation. Far easier, but less powerful (to say the least.)

Will the products converge into common patterns, and if so, will XSLT be supported in OmniPlan?

3) Export selection. OmniOutliner Pro has, in its printing, an OmniOutliner Pro section with a "Print selected rows only". My project is organized by milestones and I would *love* a way to generate a Gantt chart isolated to a certain task group.

4) Sync data. Finally, I've read the threads here about collaboration and syncing with Basecamp with interest. I too am interested in two-way syncing with a web-based issue manager. I did this once with OmniOutliner and used the DTD's support for sync. I then wrote scripts that retrieved remote data, updated things that had changed using this sync support, etc., without breaking the DTD. If OmniPlan is getting enhancements to its format, I'd be interested in similar support.

realtyler 2006-09-22 10:29 AM

I'd like to add on to this as well. (Usual caveat to suggestions: I love OmniPlan...it's working great).

One problem PMs need to solve is making project status accessible to people in a way that makes sense and is digestable, depending on the audience.

One of the things I love about OmniOutliner Pro is its export as Dynamic HTML, so that sections can be collapsed/expanded. I would vote that this be extended to OmniPlan as well.

A drawback of the current export to a Task Template is that the task list, while it notates the WBS number, is completely flat, and gives no visual indication of summary tasks. So, if I use a single OmniPlan file to track multiple projects within a larger initiative, there's no way to present this via the web in some kind of digestable way.

The current Web Page templates are a great foundation and structure, but if you're going to be using this for bigger-than-small projects (if you're not, OmniOutliner Pro does the trick just fine), then you've got to make the content accessible & digestable to people who don't have OmniPlan. This means being able to present summary-level stuff (which someone can dig into, if s/he wishes the details) through the web.

Lizard 2006-09-22 01:02 PM

realtyler: I like the idea. I've put in a request for it. In the meantime, you could take the clumsy approach of exporting to Outliner, then opening in Outliner and exporting to DHTML. (The Outliner step might be scriptable now, the Plan export will hopefully be soon. Then you could chain these together into one script to drop on your toolbar.)

realtyler 2006-09-27 12:59 PM

The oplan > ooutliner is a good interim solution...thanks. I will give that a try. Now, if only I could apply a template to an already existing document in OmniOutliner. :)

[url]http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=493&highlight=template[/url]

Thanks for the help, Lizard.


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