Unique Task ID Numbering dialog

You use the Unique Task ID Numbering dialog to specify the way in which you want Asta Powerproject to apply unique task ID numbers to the tasks that you create in your projects. You can use unique task ID numbers as a way of identifying the tasks within your project.

Asta Powerproject generates a unique ID number for each task in a project. The ID number, which is created automatically each time you create a task, is a combination of an alphanumerical prefix string, which you can define, and a number. As each new task is created within a project, the number is incremented by an amount that you can specify. You can specify whether the ID numbers are unique within the whole project, within a sub-project, or are not unique at all. You can edit the unique task ID numbers once Asta Powerproject has assigned them to tasks, but you can only change them to another unique ID number.

In some circumstances, for example if you are working with a project that has been created by copying a different project then deleting tasks from within it, Asta Powerproject may assign unique task IDs with unexpectedly high values. This is because Asta Powerproject stores the unique task IDs that have been assigned in a cache, which it refers to when necessary to ascertain what the next unique task ID should be. If this happens, you can resolve this problem by clicking Reset Cache on this dialog. This clears the cache of unique task IDs.

To access the Unique Task ID Numbering dialog, on the Project tab, in the Properties group, click the Unique Task IDs dropdown and select Unique ID Numbering.

Field Description
Prefix code Enter the alphanumeric string of characters with which you want to prefix the unique task ID number, for example AA, A2B or IH8T. To use a prefix, you must specify it before you create any tasks: once you have started to create tasks, although you can amend the prefix using this dialog, the change is not reflected in the unique task IDs that are assigned to the tasks.
Starting value Enter the number that should be added to the prefix and applied to the first task in a chart to create the unique task ID number. For example, if you enter 1 and your prefix is AA, the first number will be AA1.
Minimum width Enter the minimum number of characters that you want your unique task ID numbers to comprise (excluding the prefix). Task ID numbers smaller than the minimum width are padded out with zeros. For example, if you specify a minimum width of 5 and a prefix of AA, typical task IDs would be AA00001, AA00010 and AA00020.
Increment value As each new task is created in a view, its unique task ID is incremented on from the previous task in the view by the number you specify in this field. For example, if you want the IDs to be sequential, enter 1; if you want the IDs to increment by 10 each time you create a task, enter 10.
Sub-increment value When you add a new task in between two existing tasks in a view, rather than taking the next available ID, the new task is given the ID of the task immediately above it in the view, plus the number you specify in this field. For example, if you enter a task in between two tasks that have IDs of AA100 and AA110 and your sub-increment value is 5, the ID of the new task will be AA105. If the sub-increment value would conflict with an existing ID, the next available fully-incremented ID is assigned to the task instead.
Enable sub-incrementing on inserted tasks Select this check box to enable sub-increment values, or clear the check box to disable them. If you disable them, all tasks are assigned the next fully-incremental ID, regardless of where they are created in a view.
Unique Click this radio button to specify that task ID numbers are unique within the entire project.
Unique within summary/expanded task Click this radio button to specify that task ID numbers are unique within individual expanded and summary tasks; this may result in the same ID being used for tasks in different charts and summary groups.
Not unique Click this radio button to specify that task ID numbers are not unique, which might result in the same ID being used for tasks anywhere in the project.
Reset Cache

In some circumstances, for example if you are working with a project that has been created by copying a different project then deleting tasks from within it, Asta Powerproject may assign unique task IDs with unexpectedly high values. This is because Asta Powerproject stores the unique task IDs that have been assigned in a cache, which it refers to when necessary to ascertain what the next unique task ID should be.

 

If you find that Asta Powerproject starts to assign unique task IDs with unexpectedly high values, click this button to clear the cache, which will resolve the problem.

How do I...

  1. Enter an alphanumerical string of characters that you want to add as a prefix to each unique task ID in the Prefix code field.
  2. Enter the number that you want Asta Powerproject to apply as an ID (along with the prefix) to the first task in a chart in the Starting value field.
  3. Enter the minimum number of digits that you want each ID to comprise (excluding the prefix) in the Minimum width field. IDs smaller than this are padded out with zeros to make up the minimum width.
  4. As each new task is created in a view, its unique task ID is incremented on from the previous task in the view by the number you specify in the Increment value field. For example, if you want the IDs to be sequential, enter 1 in the field; if you want the IDs to increment by 10 each time you create a task, enter 10.
  5. When you add a new task in between two existing tasks in a view, rather than taking the next available ID, the new task is given the ID of the task immediately above it in the view, plus the number you specify in the Sub-increment value field. For example, if you enter a task in between two tasks that have IDs of AA100 and AA110 and your sub-increment value is 5, the ID of the new task will be AA105. If the sub-increment value would conflict with an existing ID, the next available fully-incremented ID is assigned to the task instead.
  6. You can disable the assignation of sub-increment values if you wish. If you do this, all tasks are assigned the next fully-incremental ID, regardless of where they are created in a view. To disable sub-incremental values, clear the Enable sub-incrementing on inserted tasks check box.
  7. From the Uniqueness group, select whether you want the task IDs to be unique throughout the whole project, unique within expanded and summary tasks, or not unique.

Click Reset Cache.

Related Topics:

Working with dialogs

Setting up unique task IDs