Scheduler & Timeline & Gantt interactive functionality in SGWT ?

[michalg]

Hi,
We need all above to extend our SGWT application. Unfortunately only Calendar is currently available without multi-day support - this is not enough.

Quick research shows that competitors have done far more:
Multi-day Calendar
Scheduler
Timeline
Gantt

Are there any plans to provide Tmeline/Gantt in SGWT and when ?
Or is there anything done already, but not exposed to public ?
We are using LGPL version of SGWT talking to our own Restful services now, but we could consider buying EE version if only it has Timeline and/or Gantt included.

Regards,
MichalG

[Isomorphic]

For any enhancements you'd like to see, there's a Feature Sponsorship process to get them added.

[michalg]

I have already asked for the Feature Sponsorship of multi-day Calendar and it is estimated as several $k.
Considering this, I am afraid to ask how much would be estimated building interactive Gantt widget from scratch...

On the other hand I could get GXT license, GXT Scheduler (with Gantt) OEM licensce and support and spent not even half of above price for it.
So if Isomorphic has no plans to extend SGWT with this functionality other than Feature Sponsorship, then I am in fact forced to buy and use third party GWT widgets in SGWT container. I do not like the idea but I can't convince my accountant that it is better to spent much, much more for a promise than buy existing widgets now.
Thanks,
MichalG

[Isomorphic]

New functionality always costs more than buying existing functionality off the shelf.

There's likely to be lots and lots of issues integrating a third-party scheduler and the result is unlikely to be very good (mismatched skins, no cache sync, etc). Be sure your accountant is taking this into account - it's unlikely to make sense unless your time is very inexpensive.

The best process may be to indicate to Isomorphic what you would be willing to pay. This makes it possible to connect with additional possible sponsors if more people need this functionality.

[jgebal]

Hello Michal.
R U from Poland? Could u contact me in the subject of timeline component? I'm also looking for a solution to allow me integrate SGWT with some third party timeline component.
Regards
Jacek Gębal
jgebal@UsunTowp.pl

[atomatom]

michalg: did you ever find something that worked? I've considered switching to Gxt because of the scheduler add-ons. That or embed Gxt in SmartGWT (sounds like pain), or build some panels (IFrame) that have Gxt components.

The alternative is build it, which I don't think would actually be that hard.

[michalg]

Hi atomatom,

1) Calendar with multi-day events: this project looks promising http://code.google.com/p/gwt-cal/
What I did is showing it inside SGWT panel and feeding with data from DataSource. Works fine including resize, drag although it hasn't been tested enough to be ready for production deployment yet.

2) Timeline and Gantt: I am still looking for good solution. As far as Gantt is concerned definitely Gxt Scheduler is the most mature. Unfortunately I ran into Z-index problems collisions between SGWT and Gxt library (for example hidden hoovers). And one has to pay for the whole Gxt plus Gxt Sheduler license.
Probably we do not need the whole Gantt functionality in our work, so maybe simple Timeline would be the way to go for us. If so, then I am considering using SGWT standard grid with a kind of labels representing events. No attempts made yet, though.
Other possibility: the author of the gwt-cal has another project http://code.google.com/p/gwtgantt/ , which potentially would integrate into SGWT well, but it is still in the early stage of the development.
MichalG

[atomatom]

I looked both of those projects. I did a quick test to try and embed Gxt scheduler, and as you said, there are issues with hovers not showing.

I also made some reasonable progress integrating directly with Google Calendar and using that as a widget. But the embedded Google Calendar is read-only (on the flip side, it is kind of cool because your calendar is published then as well). You can put hooks back into your application from Google Calendar with Gadgets.

[Isomorphic]

We have a Timeline component that we have used in various customer projects. It just needs documentation, and for full Gannt functionality, some extensions or just more override points and event handlers to allow you to build your own. The two of you, and possibly other people who need this functionality, could combine resources to do a Feature Sponsorship.

[atomatom]

I'll consider it. Feature sponsorship is likely out of the realm of my company's budget, but hopefully that will change sometime soon. (I completely understand that paying for the feature to be developed makes sense from a programmer cost/effort.)

Is there a demo anywhere of the timeline component? (or can you post some screen shots)

[Isomorphic]

Feature Sponsorship is at-cost development, so it's sometimes in the realm of just purchasing a couple of licenses.

Sorry, the easily accessible screenshots we have all have proprietary information all over them. But it looks like any other Timeline component you might have encountered.

[roddarn]

There is a Scheuler/TimeLine/Gantt componenet for the Ext GWT framework.
www.gxt-scheduler.com

[amcculley]

My company is also interested in a TimeLine widget. We have just begun research on alternatives. I'll run it by our Release Manager tomorrow.

[mscott]

Contribution

I'll contribute to such a gantt chart. Would want it to basically be attached to a TreeGrid, and allow for automated CRUD type events when linking dependencies, drag resize of actiivty bars, zoomable year->quarter->months etc...

How does one go about having such a featured added and at what cost.

[Isomorphic]

First, take a look at the latest Timeline samples here. These demos are from the next release and there are a few obvious issues still being corrected, but they give an idea of the new scope of functionality.

Having examined these, make the clearest statement you can of the feature additions you need, and use the Contact form to get started.