Component, stupid component ;-)

Posted by Martin Karlowitsch on Aug 8, 2011 2:43:00 PM
In recent customer discussions, I again and again ran into the same situation: Prospective customers looked at our website and the examples of how our Gantt software components could get embedded into typical planning or scheduling applications.  From doing so, they gained a solid understanding of the component's features and functions. However, what also happened was that putting the component into the perspective of a sample application gave the customers the impression of some limitations of our products. And yes: the product has limitations. It is damn stupid ;-)

However, this is by design and not by error. We are no business rules vendor. We are no production process optimization consultants. We have no domain industry knowledge. And all of this is reflected in all of our Gantt chart components. -- The good news is: since 36 years, we are 100% dedicated to interactive data visualization. We simply know how to visualize planning and production data even in the most complex Gantt charts. This is where we are good at, and this allowed us the luxury to build a stupid component.

What does "stupid" mean for you? -- Well, damn stupid means damn flexible. We do not come with pre settings based on business rules assumptions. We do not have limitations in the control resulting from applying some standard methodologies. The component itself comes "naked", and it is up to you, your application and your business logic how the Gantt chart will look and behave. If you want to have the nodes change the colors based on some logic (e.g. green for an activity that is on track, yellow for a potentially critical activity, and red for a critical activity), this is no problem. Also, customizing the links between nodes is possible: we do not limit you to FF, SS, SF and FS - you can do all linkages that you need. E.g. if you need a link drawn from the end of the first object to the middle of the second object (one object needs to finish before the other object finishes), this is no issue at all.

I could continue with this.

Ultimately, I hate people saying "only the sky is the limit". However, when it comes to our Gantt chart components' flexibility, I fear saying that this is simply the truth.







Topics: Windows Forms Gantt Control, Java Gantt Control, Gantt Chart Controls