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Using Robot/SCHEDULE to Display Your Job Schedule List

Product: 
Robot/SCHEDULE

Introduction

Robot/SCHEDULE 9.0 allows you to select all, or a portion of, your job schedule and display it in Microsoft Visio. You can easily identify relationships, including cross-system reactivity, between jobs. You can discover openings where more jobs can be added and quickly find inefficiencies. And, you can print your job schedule and use it to train your operators.

Before You Begin

Microsoft Visio® 2000 or 2002 must be installed on the PC on which you want to display your job schedule. We recommend that you use Visio 2002. Note: Microsoft Visio 2003 does not support .txt files and cannot be used to display your job schedule.

We recommend that you view your jobs on an up-to-date PC with adequate RAM and a processor capable of quickly importing large files (in case you want to view your entire job schedule or large portions of it at once).

You must install the GUI version of Robot/SCHEDULE 9.0 on the PC on which you want to display your job schedule or on a PC in the same network. This is necessary so you can access the Visio template and stencil required to display your jobs.

The PC on which you want to display your job schedule should be connected to your iSeries so you can navigate to the exported data files and import them into Visio for viewing. You also can FTP the exported job schedule files to the PC on which you want to view your jobs.\

Before you can display your job schedule list in Microsoft Visio, you must create (or select) a Robot/QUERY object that includes the jobs you want to display. And, you must run the Export Job Schedule List (RBTBLDEXP) command or select the Export Job Schedule List Data option from the ROBOT Schedule Report Selection menu, specifying which Robot/QUERY object to use. See the "Report Menu" section of the Robot/SCHEDULE User Guide for complete information on selecting and exporting the jobs you want to view in Visio.

Keep in mind that when you select a small number of jobs to display versus your entire job schedule, importing the file into Visio can be done quickly and the displayed job schedule is far more manageable in terms of viewing and printing.

Accessing the Help/Systems Visio Template and Stencil

Before you can import and view your jobs, you must map a file path to the Help/Systems Visio template and stencil that are installed with the GUI version of Robot/SCHEDULE 9.0. To do this, install Robot/SCHEDULE 9.0 on the PC on which you want to display your jobs and complete the following steps.

  1. From the Visio menu, select Tools/Options and click the File Paths tab.
  2. Enter the following path in the Templates and Stencils fields:

    C:\Program Files\Help Systems\Robot SCHEDULE

  3. Click OK.

Displaying Your Job Schedule in Visio 2000

If the welcome to Microsoft Visio Window displays when you start Visio, you must click Cancel to close the window before you can use the menus.

If you didn’t enter a file path when you exported the file from Robot/SCHEDULE, the default file path is your home directory specified in your iSeries system user profile.

  1. In Visio, select Tools/Macros/Flowchart/Import Flowchart Data Wizard.
  2. In the Import Flowchart Data Wizard dialog box, click Next.
  3. Select Read Data From Existing File, then enter the path of the exported .txt file or click Browse and select it, then click Open.
  4. Click Next/Finish.
  5. In the Visio File Converter dialog box, select comma (,) in the Field Separator field and click OK.

Viewing and Printing Tips

Visio 2000 automatically loads a blank drawing, which serves no purpose, when it imports your job schedule files. Simply close the blank drawing and your job schedule will fill the display.

You can zoom in and out using the Visio toolbar options (+, -, or the zoom percentage drop-down list) or use the features on the View/Zoom menu.

To open the Custom Properties box, right-click any job shape, then select View/Custom Properties. Each time you click a job shape, this box lists information for the job. The Custom Properties box can be moved and resized to suit your needs. Click the X in the upper right-hand corner of the Custom Properties box to close it.

Move your cursor over a job shape and the job name appears.

A job shape stencil displays at the left side of the screen. Click the X in the upper-right corner of the stencil to close it and increase the size of your job drawings.

Click the Legend tab at the bottom of the page to display the Robot/SCHEDULE Visual Job Schedule List Legend. The Query Name, the iSeries System, and the Query Date and Time for the drawing display on the legend. Properties-at-a-Glance and Master Shape definitions also display. Click any other tab to close the legend. You also can right-click in any drawing, and select Show JSL Notes to display and hide the legend.

For printing, select File/Print Preview and make the necessary adjustments.

Displaying Your Job Schedule in Visio 2002

If you didn’t enter a file path when you exported the file from Robot/SCHEDULE, the default file path is your home directory specified in your iSeries system user profile.

  1. In Visio, select Tools/Macros/Flowchart/Import Flowchart Data Wizard.
  2. In the Import Flowchart Data Wizard dialog box, click Next.
  3. Select Read Data From Existing File, then enter the path of the exported .txt file or click Browse and select it, then click Open.
  4. Click Next/Finish.
  5. In the Microsoft Visio window, select Enable Macros each time the window displays.

Viewing and Printing Tips

You can zoom in and out using the Visio toolbar options (+, -, or the zoom percentage drop-down list) or use the features on the View/Zoom menu.

To open the Custom Properties box, right-click any job shape, then select View/Custom Properties. Each time you click a job shape, this box lists information for the job. The Custom Properties box can be moved and resized to suit your needs. Click the X in the upper right-hand corner of the Custom Properties box to close it.

Move your cursor over a job shape and the job name appears.

A job shape stencil displays at the left side of the screen. Click the X in the upper-right corner of the stencil to close it and increase the size of your job drawings.

Click the Legend tab at the bottom of the page to display the Robot/SCHEDULE Visual Job Schedule List Legend. The Query Name, the iSeries System, and the Query Date and Time for the drawing display on the legend. Properties-at-a-Glance and Master Shape definitions also display. Click any other tab to close the legend. You also can right-click in any drawing, and select Show JSL Notes to display and hide the legend.

For printing, select File/Print Preview and make the necessary adjustments.

 

Updated March 18, 2013