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Filter Conditions For Activity Codes Not Copying With File

4 replies [Last post]
Chris Lothian
User offline. Last seen 36 weeks 3 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 18 May 2007
Posts: 34

Hi All,

 

Do you know why it is that when I copy a project within the database and paste it within the database, the filters in the new file have lost the conditions that relate to activity codes?

  • They are user defined filters.
  • The activity codes are project level.
  • The activity code copies across OK (and remains allocated to the activities).
  • The filter copies across (it just loses its conditions relating to activity codes).
  • Where the filter has multiple conditions, the conditions not related to activity codes copy across, but the it still loses its conditions relating to activity codes.
  • I’ve tried saving the filter as a layout filter.
  • I’ve tried saving the layout (with the layout filter), exporting from original file, then importing to new.
  • The contract is for a large company that's operating a enterprise db (where there's a massicve list of global filters) and I can only set things at project level.

 

Any ideas please?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Chris

Replies

Santosh Bhat
User offline. Last seen 51 weeks 1 day ago. Offline
Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 381

Chris,

I've never been able to make sense of a PLF file structure so I'm not sure if it'd be possible or not. The issue you'll face is that the Project Code in one Project has an Internal ID, and the same Code in the second project will have a completely different Internal ID and you'll need to be able to identify this value when you modify the PLF file - which I suspect might be a tough one.

Making the Codes EPS level (or global) is your best option, but if this is not possible, then the struggle of recreating the filters each time you copy the project is real. Perhaps your workflow needs to be modfied?

By that I mean rather than taking a copy, and then working in the copy, why not take a copy as snapshot, then continue working in the original project, and if/when you need to revert back to the how it was, you then go back to the copy and rebuild your filters in there.

Zoltan Palffy
User offline. Last seen 3 days 3 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 3089
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beacuse you cretae these as project codes if ther were created as global codes then they would be there.

make the global ones unique start the name with an astericks *

Chris Lothian
User offline. Last seen 36 weeks 3 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 18 May 2007
Posts: 34

Thanks Santosh.

That makes sense, although does seem like it's a function

I as a secondary thought, I was wondering if there was a way of editing it in notepad if I save the layout filter and export it?

Santosh Bhat
User offline. Last seen 51 weeks 1 day ago. Offline
Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 381

As you are using Project Level Activity codes, the codes themselves are associated with the specific project they were created in, even if they are named the same. When you copy a project it effectively creates a new set of Project Level Activity Codes, but any filter you've created will continue to reference the original project activity codes (they match against internal Databsae ID's that you can't see)  However, as you haven't got the original project open, it cannot find these and therefore your filter conditions are blank. YOu have to redo your filter referencing the new project activity codes, even though they will appear to be the same.

You can check this behaviour by doing the following:

1) Open both proejcts, the original and the copied. Your filter will work, but will only filter activities from the original project

2) Open both projects and View the Activity Code list, you'll see they are grouped by project and both look the same.

 

Let me explain further:

Say you have ProjectX that contains an activity code called Zone, with code values of Zone A, Zone B & Zone C.

You create a filter that has a condtion Zone = Zone A and it works fine in Project X

Now you copy the project to ProjectY

Project Y now contains a Copied set of Activity Codes called Zone, with values Zone A, Zone B, Zone C etc.

However your original filter refereneces the Zone Activity Code from ProjectX not ProjectY.

 

You could try converting the Codes from Activity Level to EPS level and then they can be used across multiple proejcts and you can then use the same filter across all the projects. These codes will only be visible to users who can view projects in that EPS node, so shouldn't cause problems at a global level.