Tool Bar Options and Behavior

ISPW Version 3 introduced the concept of a Task List Tool Bar (shown in the following figure) which works much like a GUI Tool Bar. To invoke the commands, use the mouse to position to a Tool Bar operation—or press Tab to jump across—then press Enter to invoke. 

Invoking Commands

The Task List Tool Bar is a handy shortcut to various ISPW operations:

• The Add, Close, Join, and Work operations perform the same functions as when they are entered from the Command line.
• Approve is a shortcut to the Approval panel. Exiting from the Approval screen then returns to the Task List.
• Reset will clear any column filters.

Using Select (/)

Use the Select (/) command to highlight specific Task List rows for processing, then press Enter. The Tool Bar changes dynamically to a list of applicable sub-operations, (highlighted in the following figure), including Generate and Promote. Click any of these Tool Bar sub-operations to perform that function, and press Enter.

Using Select Command

The Tool Bar makes it more convenient to perform certain operations.

• Use the column filters to sub-set the Task List by Type, by Level, or by some other criteria. For example from a Task List filtered by Level, click Select to highlight all the rows at that particular level, then click Promote to Promote them all to the next level.
• Deselect a row by deleting the Slash (/) on that row.
• Click Clear to deselect all the Task List rows.

Using Show/Hide

The Show/Hide command limits the type and number of Tasks displayed in the Task List. When Tasks become inactive, they are displayed in light blue on the Task List. These inactive Tasks can safely remain hidden most of the time, because work is usually only performed on active Tasks.

Clicking Show/Hide displays the Task Sub-option Bar highlighted in the following figure.

Task Sub-Option Bar

In the example above, inactive Renamed Tasks will be displayed, but inactive Superseded and History (Production) Tasks will be hidden. There is one exception to this: If a Superseded Task is hidden, it may still be displayed if it has an Acknowledge status to draw attention to it (Task Show/Hide Display). When the message has been OKed, it will be hidden as requested.

Task Show/Hide Display

Inactive Tasks

Inactive Tasks are not active in the ISPW lifecycle datasets. They can be:

• Superseded—Tasks have been replaced at that level and are either backed up in the ISPW Warehouse (Superseded Backup) or have been overwritten and deleted (Superseded Gone).
• History—Tasks are in the ISPW Warehouse and were once the active Production version.
• Renamed—Tasks have been renamed and set aside using the Task Operation RE.

Display of History Tasks

If a module has been promoted to Production multiple times, the old Production versions will become inactive History Tasks. If you click Show_History, they will appear as light blue History entries in the Task List display.

History Tasks

To suppress the Production History Task List rows, click Hide_History. The color of Hide_History changes from dark blue to light blue, as does the color of the Show/Hide option on the Task Bar. Click Back to toggle back to the primary Tool Bar display. The Hide_History feature is an extremely powerful way of handling large Task Lists containing inactive tasks that are still worth keeping in the Task List for reference, but get in the way otherwise.

Using Expand/Collapse

Expand/Collapse pertains to the small Plus signs next to some Task List rows. Clicking on a Plus sign or clicking Expand/Collapse on the Tool Bar will show/hide all the Task sub-rows with Notes, Errors, and Warning Messages.

Clicking on the Plus Sign

In the following example, messages pertaining to module TPROG20 are expanded by clicking on the small Plus sign and pressing Enter. Messages are collapsed by pressing Enter again.

Clicking ++/-- on the Tool Bar will Expand/Collapse all messages in the Task List.

Expanding Messages in the Task List

Tool Bar Positioning

The location of the Tool Bar is controlled as follows:

• PREF TOP—Displays the Tool Bar at the top of the screen.
• PREF BOT— Displays the Tool Bar at the bottom of the screen.
• PREF OFF— Removes the Tool Bar altogether.