XML structure of a Designer project file

The project file defines the Gantt project configuration by specifying the type of the Gantt chart, the reference to the style sheet, and the type of data source. The project file has an .igpr extension.

The following sections describe the XML elements used in the project file.

The ganttConfiguration element

The ganttConfiguration element is the root element that contains all the other elements in the XML document.

Usage of the ganttConfiguration element

</ganttConfiguration>

The following table shows the ganttConfiguration element.

Element	Attribute and Type	Required	Description
ganttConfiguration			Describes the content of a specific Gantt project. It therefore contains a style element and a dataSource element.
	type %Text	Yes	The type of Gantt chart. The only values accepted are activity for a Gantt chart or resource for a Schedule chart.

The style element

The following table shows how the style element provides a reference to the style sheet associated with the project.

Element	Attribute and Type	Required	Description
style			Provides a reference to the style sheet associated with the project.
	url %Text	Yes	The URL of the style sheet.

The dataSource element

The following table shows how the dataSource element defines the type of data referenced by the project. This is done through the class attribute, which specifies the kind of data source to load.

Element	Attribute and Type	Required	Description
dataSource			Defines the type of data referenced by the project.
	class %Text	Yes	The class that defines the data source to load. The only values accepted are: ilog.views.gantt.project. IlvGanttXMLDataSource that reads from an XML file. IlvGanttJDBCDataSourceilog.views.gantt.project. IlvGanttJDBCDataSource that reads data from a database through the JDBC API.
	url %Text	Yes for IlvGanttXMLDataSource	Used for data sources of type IlvGanttXMLDataSource only to give the URL of the XML file.

When the data source is an IlvGanttJDBCDataSource, the data source contains different elements for the connection and for the queries. See The connection element and The query element.

Example of a basic project file

There are examples of project files in the directory:

<installdir>/jviews-gantt/bin/designer/data/examples

The following code example shows the typical content of a project file.

Project file projectTasks.igpr

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<dataSource

class="ilog.views.gantt.project.IlvGanttXMLDataSource"

url="simpleProject.xml"/>

</ganttConfiguration>

The result of setting this project file on a Gantt chart creates a data model by loading the XML from the file simpleProject.xml and applies the style sheet projectTasks.css to it.

Elements for connecting to and querying a database

The elements described in this section define in the project file the information needed for connecting to and querying a database. The data obtained by the query is mapped to the Gantt data model.

The connection element

The following table shows how the connection element specifies a connection to a database. It can be used by query elements.

Element	Attribute and Type	Required	Description
connection			Specifies a connection to a database.
	id %Text	Yes	Provides a reference to the connection subsequently in the XML file.
	url %Text	Yes	Specifies the URL of the database.
	user %Text	No	Specifies the user for connecting to the database.
	passwd %Text	No	Specifies the password used for connecting to the database.
	driver %Text	Yes	Specifies the name of the JDBC driver class used for connecting to the database.
	driverURL %Text	No	Specifies the URL that points to a JAR file where the driver archive can be found. This attribute is required if the driver is not loaded directly by the application code.

The query element

The various query elements (on activities, resources, reservations, and constraints ) define the queries needed to obtain the Gantt data model. SeeAccessing the data and also Connecting to data through JDBC in Developing with the SDK.

The following table shows the attributes of the query element.

Element	Attribute and Type	Required	Description
query			Defines a query needed to obtain the Gantt data model.
	connection %Text	Yes	Holds a reference to the ID of the connection as defined by the connection element illustrated in The connection element.
	value %Text	Yes	Defines an SQL query for obtaining results from the database.
	model %Text	Yes	Can be activities, resources, constraints, or reservations, depending on which table model the query is meant to fill.

The map element

The query elements accept map elements as child elements. The map elements provide the means of mapping the result of the SQL query to the Gantt data model properties. The map element itself is optional. When it is present, the query element recognizes the attributes of the map element and thus the result of the query can be mapped to the Gantt data model.

The following table shows the attributes of the map element.

Element	Attribute and Type	Required	Description
map			Maps the result of the SQL query to the Gantt data model.
	columns %Text	Yes	Provides the comma-separated list of columns in the SQL query from which the mapping is made.
	property %Text	Yes	Specifies the name of the property in the Gantt data model for the given activity, reservation, resource, or constraint to which the columns will be mapped.
	requiredType %Text	No	Specifies the Java type required by the property in the Gantt data model.

The value element

Optionally, the map element can accept child elements of type value for the constraintType property of the constraint object. This element specifies the type of constraint, which may be:

START-START

START-END

END-START

END-END

The following table shows the attributes of the value element.

Element	Attribute and Type	Required	Description
value			Specifies the type of constraint.
	model %Text	Yes	Specifies a value in the model for the type of constraint. For example: ilog.views.gantt.IlvConstraintType.END_END
	table %Text	Yes	A value in the result of the SQL query that should map to the value given by the model attribute.