Usage

Creating a basic Gantt Chart

Include JSGantt CSS and Javascript

<link href="jsgantt.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
<script src="jsgantt.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

Create a div element to hold the gantt chart

<div style="position:relative" class="gantt" id="GanttChartDIV"></div>

Start a <script> block

<script type="text/javascript">

Instantiate JSGantt using GanttChart()

var g = new JSGantt.GanttChart(document.getElementById('GanttChartDIV'), 'day');

Method definition: GanttChart(pDiv, pFormat)

Customize the look and feel using configuration methods

see Configuration Options below

Add Tasks

a) Using Method()

Using g.AddTaskItemObject method we have to pass all data in "key":"value" format, as shown below. Any numerica data, like pID below should be passed without quotes while text/character data like pName and any dates must be enclosed in quotes. Also, in this way we can pass any custom variables like "category" and "section" shown below. Adding such custom variables will NOT add corresponding columns in the data table on left side of gantt chart. Such custom variables can be then accessed inside jsgantt.js file by using task.getDataObject().yourCustomAttr.

If you want to have custom variables data to be shown in the task table, you should set additional headers for these variables. See Additional Headers below.

// passing object
g.AddTaskItemObject({
  pID: 1,
  pName: "Define Chart <strong>API</strong>",
  pStart: "2017-02-25",
  pEnd: "2017-03-17",
  pPlanStart: "2017-04-01",
  pPlanEnd: "2017-04-15 12:00",
  pClass: "ggroupblack",
  pLink: "",
  pMile: 0,
  pRes: "Brian",
  pComp: 0,
  pGroup: 0,
  pParent: 0,
  pOpen: 1,
  pDepend: "",
  pCaption: "",
  pCost: 1000,
  pNotes: "Some Notes text",
  pBarText: "ex. bar text",
  category: "My Category",
  sector: "Finance"
});

// or passing parameters
g.AddTaskItem(new JSGantt.TaskItem(1, 'Define Chart API','',          '',          'ggroupblack','', 0, 'Brian', 0,  1,0,1,'','','Some Notes text',g));

Method definition: TaskItem(pID, pName, pStart, pEnd, pClass, pLink, pMile, pRes, pComp, pGroup, pParent, pOpen, pDepend, pCaption, pNotes, pGantt, pCost = null, pPlanStart = null, pPlanEnd = null, pDuration = null, pBarText = null, pDataObject = null)

This method takes only the variables defined above and explained below. You can NOT pass custom variables this way.

^* Combined group tasks show all sub-tasks on one row. The information displayed in the task list and row caption are taken from the parent task. Tool tips are generated individually for each sub-task from its own information. Milestones are not valid as sub-tasks of a combined group task and will not be displayed. No bounds checking of start and end dates of sub-tasks is performed therefore it is possible for these task bars to overlap. Dependencies can be set to and from sub-tasks only.

b) using parseJSON() with an external JSON file or API

JSGantt.parseJSON('./fixes/data.json', g);

This function returns a promise if you would like to do an event after the json is loaded.

The structure of the JSON file:

{
  "pID": 1,
  "pName": "Define Chart API",
  "pStart": "",
  "pEnd": "",
  "pPlanStart": "",
  "pPlanEnd": "",
  "pClass": "ggroupblack",
  "pLink": "",
  "pMile": 0,
  "pRes": "Brian",
  "pComp": 0,
  "pGroup": 1,
  "pParent": 0,
  "pOpen": 1,
  "pDepend": "",
  "pCaption": "",
  "pCost":  "",
  "pNotes": "Some Notes text",
  "pBarText": "ex. bar text",
  "category": "My Category",
  "sector": "Finance"
}

c) using parseXML() with an external XML file

JSGantt.parseXML("project.xml",g);

Method definition: JSGantt.parseXML(pFile, pGanttObj)

The structure of the native XML file:

<project>
<task>
	<pID>25</pID>
	<pName>WCF Changes</pName>
	<pStart></pStart>
	<pEnd></pEnd>
  <pPlanStart></pPlanStart>
	<pPlanEnd></PlanEnd>
	<pClass>gtaskred</pClass>
	<pLink></pLink>
	<pMile>0</pMile>
	<pRes></pRes>
	<pComp>0</pComp>
	<pGroup>1</pGroup>
	<pParent>2</pParent>
	<pOpen>1</pOpen>
  <pCost></pCost>
	<pDepend>2,24</pDepend>
	<pCaption>A caption</pCaption>
	<pNotes>Text - can include limited HTML</pNotes>
</task>
</project>

Field definitions are as described for the parameters to TaskItem above. The pClass element is optional in XML files and will default to "ggroupblack" for group tasks, "gtaskblue" for normal tasks and "gmilestone" for milestones. The pGantt element is not required for XML import.

JSGannt Improved will also test the provided XML file to see if it appears to be in Microsoft Project XML format. If so an attempt will be made to load up the project. This feature is experimental, the import is best effort and not guaranteed. Once loaded the project as interpreted by JSGantt Improved can be extracted using the XML Export methods provided.

c) using parseXMLString() with XML held in a javascript string object

JSGantt.parseXMLString("<project><task>...</task></project>",g);

Method definition: JSGantt.parseXML(pStr, pGanttObj)

The XML provided will be parsed in exactly the same way as the contents of an external XML file and hence must match the format as described for parseXML above

XML Export

The following methods can be used to extract details of tasks in the project in XML format

Method definition: getXMLProject()

Returns a string containing the entire project in JSGantt Improved XML format. Dates will be exported in the currently defined input format as set by setDateInputFormat().

Method definition: getXMLTask(pID, pIdx)

Returns a string containing the specified task item in JSGantt Improved XML format. Dates will be exported in the currently defined input format as set by setDateInputFormat().

Call Draw()

g.Draw();

Updating an existing Gantt Chart

It is also possible to delete tasks using RemoveTaskItem() method.

g.RemoveTaskItem(11);

Method definition: RemoveTaskItem(pID)

If the task removed is a group item, all child tasks will also be removed.

After adding or removing tasks a call to "g.Draw()" must be made to redraw the chart.

ClearTasks()

This method will clear al the tasks from the list and after that you have to call "g.Draw()".

Drawing custom elements on the chart

If you want to draw something custom in addition to task bars you may find following useful:

1. Put your drawing call in afterDraw callback. It's called in the end of each Draw call so view will mostly stay in sync. There you can get task row elements with g.getList()[...].getChildRow() and add HTML you need.
2. Use g.chartRowDateToX(date) to get X coordinate for a date.
3. If custom drawings go beyond min/max task dates - extend chart range with vMinDate/vMaxDate chart options.
4. See example in demo with Custom elements flag.

Options

You can set Options as an object, following the example:

g.setOptions({
  vCaptionType: 'Complete',       
  vQuarterColWidth: 36
});

Switches

Many of the features of jsGanttImproved can be customised through the use of setter methods available on the GanttChart object returned by a call to JSGantt.GanttChart() The following options take a single numeric parameter; a value of 1 will enable the describe functionality, 0 will disable it

Key Values

The following options enable functionality using a set of specific key values

Layout

Most of the look and feel of the Gantt Chart can be controlled using CSS however, as the length of a task bar is determined by column width, the following methods take a single numeric parameter that defines the appropriate column width in pixels. Note that the task bar sizing code assumes the use of collapsed table borders 1px wide.

Display Date Formats

Date display formats can be individually controlled. The methods used to set these display formats each take a single format string parameter. The format string can be made up of the following components (case sensitive)

separated by one of the following characters: "/-.,'<space>:

Any text between separators that does not match one of the components above will be checked using a case insensitive match for a valid internationalised string (see Internationalisation below). If the value is still not found the text will be output unchanged.

The available date display methods are

Internationalisation

jsGanttImproved only provides English text however all hard coded strings can be replaced by calling the addLang() method available on the GanttChart object returned by a call to JSGantt.GanttChart()

The addLang() method takes two parameters. The first is a string identifier for the language, the second is a javascript object containing all the replacement text pairs, the default English settings are:

When adding a language any translations that are not provided will use the default English language value. This provides a simple way to override default strings e.g.

g.addLang('en2', {'format':'Select', 'comp':'Complete'});

would create a language called 'en2' where the text in the format selector was "Select" rather than "Format" and the header for the Percentage Complete column in the task list is "Complete" rather than "% Comp."

Once a translation has been added a call must be made to setLang() with the appropriate language identifier before calling Draw().

Example Options

The configuration options used in the example index file provided are:

g.setOptions({
  vCaptionType: 'Complete',  // Set to Show Caption : None,Caption,Resource,Duration,Complete,     
  vQuarterColWidth: 36,
  vDateTaskDisplayFormat: 'day dd month yyyy', // Shown in tool tip box
  vDayMajorDateDisplayFormat: 'mon yyyy - Week ww',// Set format to display dates in the "Major" header of the "Day" view
  vWeekMinorDateDisplayFormat: 'dd mon', // Set format to display dates in the "Minor" header of the "Week" view
  vLang: lang,
  vShowTaskInfoLink: 1, // Show link in tool tip (0/1)
  vShowEndWeekDate: 0,  // Show/Hide the date for the last day of the week in header for daily view (1/0)
  vUseSingleCell: 10000, // Set the threshold at which we will only use one cell per table row (0 disables).  Helps with rendering performance for large charts.
  vFormatArr: ['Day', 'Week', 'Month', 'Quarter'], // Even with setUseSingleCell using Hour format on such a large chart can cause issues in some browsers
});

Putting all this information together the final code to produce the chart included in the example index file provided is as follows:

<link href="jsgantt.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
<script src="jsgantt.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<div style="position:relative" class="gantt" id="GanttChartDIV"></div>

<script>

var g = new JSGantt.GanttChart(document.getElementById('GanttChartDIV'), 'day');

g.setOptions({
  vCaptionType: 'Complete',  // Set to Show Caption : None,Caption,Resource,Duration,Complete,     
  vQuarterColWidth: 36,
  vDateTaskDisplayFormat: 'day dd month yyyy', // Shown in tool tip box
  vDayMajorDateDisplayFormat: 'mon yyyy - Week ww',// Set format to display dates in the "Major" header of the "Day" view
  vWeekMinorDateDisplayFormat: 'dd mon', // Set format to display dates in the "Minor" header of the "Week" view
  vLang: lang,
  vAdditionalHeaders: { // Add data columns to your table
    category: {
      title: 'Category'
    },
    sector: {
      title: 'Sector'
    }
  },
  vShowTaskInfoLink: 1, // Show link in tool tip (0/1)
  vShowEndWeekDate: 0,  // Show/Hide the date for the last day of the week in header for daily view (1/0)
  vUseSingleCell: 10000, // Set the threshold at which we will only use one cell per table row (0 disables).  Helps with rendering performance for large charts.
  vFormatArr: ['Day', 'Week', 'Month', 'Quarter'], // Even with setUseSingleCell using Hour format on such a large chart can cause issues in some browsers
  vScrollTo: new Date(),

  // EVENTS

  // OnChangee
  vEventsChange: {
    taskname: console.log,
    res: console.log,
  },
  // EventsClickCell
  vEvents: {
    taskname: console.log,
    res: console.log,
    dur: console.log,
    comp: console.log,
    start: console.log,
    end: console.log,
    planstart: console.log,
    planend: console.log,
    cost: console.log,
    additional_category: console.log, // for additional fields
    beforeDraw: ()=>console.log('before draw listener'),
    afterDraw: ()=>console.log('before after listener')
  },
  vEventClickRow: console.log,
  vEventClickCollapse: console.log
});

// Load from a Json url
JSGantt.parseJSON('./fixes/data.json', g);

// Or Adding  Manually
g.AddTaskItemObject({
  pID: 1,
  pName: "Define Chart <strong>API</strong>",
  pStart: "2017-02-25",
  pEnd: "2017-03-17",
  pPlanStart: "2017-04-01",
  pPlanEnd: "2017-04-15 12:00",
  pClass: "ggroupblack",
  pLink: "",
  pMile: 0,
  pRes: "Brian",
  pComp: 0,
  pGroup: 1,
  pParent: 0,
  pOpen: 1,
  pDepend: "",
  pCaption: "",
  pCost: 1000,
  pNotes: "Some Notes text",
  pBarText: "ex. bar text",
  category: "My Category",
  sector: "Finance"
});

g.Draw();

</script>

Printing

g.printChart(width, height); will set the page size (via an injected css) and trigger the browser's print. The default injected style can be changed by passing a different style as the 3rd parameter to printChart.

The default style is:

 @page {
    size: ${width}mm ${height}mm;
  }
  .gchartcontainer {
    width: ${width}mm;
  }

Troubleshooting

• My grid has a few/lot of columns and i want to resize the space for the chart and data

You can change the CSS and choose the size:

.gmainright{
	width: 75%;
}
.gmainleft{
	width: 25%;
}

Reference: https://github.com/jsGanttImproved/jsgantt-improved/issues/157

• Table headers are missing when vTotalHeight is set

There's a piece of code to calculate scrollbar size, which creates a temporary div in body.

Some styles may mess with this div and cause incorrect calculation.

This temp div has class gscrollbar-calculation-container, so if you have top level styles you can't controll - you may add styles to this class to fix scrollbar calculation.