Tree Fields

General Syntax

Each tree field is a function with a list of input fields. These fields can be either tree fields or data fields. To avoid ambiguities it is good practice to name tree fields starting with a capital letter and data fields with a lower case letter. A tree field is always defined as part of a tree (see previous chapter). The definition states the name, the field type, and the input parameters:

field "Name"
    field-type "type"
    own-fields [...]
    child-fields [...]
    sibling-fields [...]
    parent-fields [...]

The field is started by the line field "Name" where “Name” is the name of the field. This will appear as the column heading in the tree list. After this, indented with four spaces, is the field type: field-type "type", where “type” is the type (see next for an overview). After this, the lines own-fields [...], child-fields [...], sibling-fields [...], and parent-fields [...] each define a list of field names. These are the input parameters for the function. They are evaluated in the order they are mentioned. A real-world example:

field "Progress"
    field-type "ratio-percent"
    own-fields ["Spent Hours", "Planned Hours"]
    child-fields []
    sibling-fields []
    parent-fields []

The tree field “Progress” is a ratio, defined as parameter1 / (parameter2 + parameter3 + …). In the tree view it will be displayed as a percentage. It shows the ratio of the tree fields “Spent Hours” / “Planned Hours”.

concatenation

Concatenates strings. Syntax:

field "Name"
    field-type "concatenation"
    own-fields ["field1", "field2", ...]
    child-fields ["field3", ...]
    sibling-fields [...]
    parent-fields [...]

were “field1”, “field2”, “field3”, …, are the names of data or tree fields. Result: The strings found in field1, field2, field3, …, put together, in the order they are mentioned.

difference

Difference of numbers. Syntax:

field "Name"
    field-type "difference"
    own-fields ["field1", "field2", ...]
    child-fields ["field3", ...]
    sibling-fields [...]
    parent-fields [...]

were “field1”, “field2”, “field3”, …, are the names of data or tree fields. Result: The value field1 - (field2 + field3 + …), in the order they are mentioned.

difference-time

Same as “difference”, but will show the result as hour format, e.g. the value 1.5 will be displayed and exported as 1:30:00.

mean

The statistical mean of all input fields. Syntax:

field "Name"
    field-type "mean"
    own-fields ["field1", "field2", ...]
    child-fields ["field3", ...]
    sibling-fields [...]
    parent-fields [...]

were “field1”, “field2”, “field3”, …, are the names of data or tree fields. Result: The value (field1 + field2 + field3 + …) / N, where N is the number of fields.

mean-percent

Same as “mean”, but will show the result as a percentage, e.g. the value 0.75 will show as 75 %.

node-name

The name of the node’s parent in another tree. Syntax:

field "Name"
    field-type "node-name"
    own-fields []
    child-fields []
    sibling-fields []
    parent-fields [N]

were N is an integer number. Result: Displays the name of the node’s parent in tree N. Trees are counted starting with 0.

Example: This field is called “Project” and is defined in a tree “Time”, which is the first tree (i.e. Tree 0). There is another tree called “Projects”, which is the third tree (i.e. Tree 2):

tree "Time"
    field "Project"
        field-type "node-name"
        own-fields []
        child-fields []
        sibling-fields []
        parent-fields [2]

tree "Tasks"
    ...

tree "Projects"
    ...

This would create the column “Project” in the tree view of the “Time” tree. The line parent-fields[2] means each entry shows the respective node’s parent in the “Project” tree (e.g. “TreeTime”).

node-path

Same as “node-name”, but instead of the paren’t name, the entire path is shown, using “|” as delimiter (e.g. “Coding | Open Source | TreeTime”).