Working with dialogs

Most Asta Powerproject dialogs can remain open while you continue to work on your project. For example, once a Properties dialog is open, you can select other objects of the same type and the dialog will refresh to show the properties of the current selection, so you can edit one object after another without repeatedly closing and opening the dialog.

You can prevent a dialog from refreshing when you change the selection in the bar chart by clicking the a left pointing pin icon in the bottom left corner of the dialog. When you do this, the icon changes to a downwards pointing pin to indicate that you have pinned the dialog onto your original selection.

When you make an edit within this type of dialog, your edit is performed straight away - you do not have to click OK to confirm your edit. In fact, most of these dialogs only have a Close button because you do not need to confirm your edits. If you want to abandon the edits you have made on this type of dialog, click Redo on the Quick Access toolbar.

Some Asta Powerproject dialogs have an Apply button. Any edits you make within this type of dialog are not performed until you click Apply.

If a dialog has OK and Cancel buttons, click OK to close the dialog and apply your edits, or click Cancel to close the dialog without applying your edits.

Resizing dialogs

You can resize some dialogs to make them larger or smaller on the screen. For example, the Work Breakdown Structure dialog can be resized. You might want to make a dialog bigger to make it easier to enter information into it. You can tell if a dialog can be resized by holding the mouse pointer over the bottom-right corner of the dialog: if the pointer changes to a double-headed arrow, the dialog can be resized.

To resize a dialog:

  1. Hold the mouse pointer over the bottom-right corner of the dialog until the pointer changes to a double-headed arrow.
  2. Click and hold down the left mouse button, then drag the bottom corner of the dialog down and to the right. The dialog resizes as you drag.
  3. Release the mouse button when the dialog has changed to the required size.

You can reset dialogs that you have resized back to their default size. To do this:

  1. Ensure that no resized dialogs are currently open.
  2. Click the File tab, then click Options. The Options dialog appears.
  3. Click the General tab.
  4. Click Reset Dialog Sizes.

Working with grid controls

When a dialog has a grid control, such as the Allocations tab of the Bar and Task Properties dialog, you can select a line in the grid by right-clicking the line. Clicking the line selects it for editing. You can change the width of a column in the grid by dragging the vertical bar that divides that column heading from the next.

Specifying whether it is possible to edit numbers in numerical fields using +-*/

You can specify whether it is possible to edit numbers in numerical fields using the mathematical operators +, -, * and /. If you enable this functionality, numerical fields, such as those containing durations and amounts, can be edited using +, -, * and /. For example, you can type:

  • +10d to add ten days to an existing duration.
  • -5 to reduce an allocation by five.
  • *2 to double a cost.
  • /2 to halve a cost.

You can also use these operators when editing numerical cells in the spreadsheet.

If you disable this functionality, you are able to enter negative values in certain fields using the - symbol.

To specify whether it is possible to edit numbers in numerical fields using +, -, * and /:

  1. Click the File tab, then click Options. The Options dialog appears.
  2. Click the General tab.
  3. Select the Allow calculations in numerical fields check box to enable the editing of numbers using mathematical operators, or clear the check box to disable this - thereby allowing the entry of negative values in certain fields.
  4. Click Close.

Dealing with warning and notification prompts

Some warning and notification prompts within Asta Powerproject include a check box that you can select if you do not want to be notified with the same information again. If you select this check box in a warning or notification prompt, the prompt will not appear the next time the same situation arises.

You can specify that if you ask not to be warned again when a prompt appears, this should apply permanently, or only to the current session. You can also restore all prompts that you have turned off in the past, so that all prompts are once more shown at the appropriate time.

To specify the way in which to deal with warning and notification prompts that give you the option not to be warned again:

  1. Click the File tab, then click Options. The Options dialog appears.
  2. Click the General tab.
  3. Click Do Not Show Me Again Prompts. The Show Prompts dialog appears.
  4. In the When responding to "Do not show me again" field, select Apply to current session to specify that if you ask not to be warned again when a prompt appears, this should apply only until you close Asta Powerproject, or select Apply permanently to specify that your choice should apply permanently and that the prompt should not appear again when you use Asta Powerproject in the future.
  5. Click Reset to restore all prompts that you have turned off in the past, so that all prompts are once more shown at the appropriate time.
  6. Click OK.