PRJ: Filter with Many Conditions Produces Unexpected Results

MORE INFORMATION

Filter conditions are evaluated solely on the basis of their sequential order in the filter dialog box.

Consider the following examples:

Example 1

The following information is evaluated as:

   Flag1     Equals    Yes    And
   Flag2     Equals    Yes    Or
   Flag3     Equals    Yes    Or
   Flag4     Equals    Yes    And
   Flag5     Equals    Yes
				

is interpreted as

   ((Flag1 Equals Yes And Flag2 Equals Yes) Or Flag3 Equals Yes Or Flag4
   Equals Yes) And Flag5 Equals Yes
				

rather than:

   (Flag1 Equals Yes And Flag2 Equals Yes) Or Flag3 Equals Yes Or (Flag4
   Equals Yes And Flag5 Equals Yes)
				

Example 2

The following information

   Flag1     Equals    Yes    Or
   Flag2     Equals    Yes    And
   Flag3     Equals    Yes    And
   Flag4     Equals    Yes    Or
   Flag5     Equals    Yes
				

is interpreted as

   (((Flag1 Equals Yes Or Flag2 Equals Yes) And Flag3 Equals Yes) And
   Flag4 Equals Yes) Or Flag5 Equals Yes
				

and not:

   (Flag1 Equals Yes Or Flag2 Equals Yes) And Flag3 Equals Yes And
   (Flag4 Equals Yes Or Flag5 Equals Yes)
				

Using example 2, another way to look at how filter conditions are evaluated is:

            (Flag1  Equals  Yes) = Result1
Result1  Or (Flag2  Equals  Yes) = Result2
Result2 And (Flag3  Equals  Yes) = Result3
Result3 And (Flag4  Equals  Yes) = Result4
Result4  Or (Flag5  Equals  Yes) = Filter Result
				

This behavior limits the ways filter conditions can be combined in Microsoft Project. For example, the second member of each pair of possible interpretations above cannot be expressed in a project filter.

If different behavior is needed, a macro using Microsoft Project's Visual Basic for Applications language may be used. Because Visual Basic for Applications has full support of logical expressions, a macro can be used to set a flag field to Yes for those tasks that meet the desired conditions. You can then use a normal Microsoft Project filter that filters the flag field to display the desired tasks.