derkork / project.txt-js

TypeScript/JavaScript implementation of a parser for Project.txt files.

Project.txt JS

What is it?

This is is a library for parsing and processing project plans in the project.txt format. It provides no rendering functionality. If you want a ready-to-use editor, have a look at project.txt Viewer.

Usage

The library is written in TypeScript but should be consumable by any JavaScript project. Add it to your project using npm install project.txt.

import {parse, calculateDependencies, ProjectCalculationSettings} from "/project.txt";

// The project definition is expected as a string. You can get this from
// any source you would like, be it a file, a git repo, etc.
const projectDefinition = "[ ] some task";

const parseResult = parse(projectDefinition);
const project = parseResult.project;

// now you can extract the parsed information from the project
const tasks = project.tasks;
const firstTask = tasks[0];
const persons = project.persons;

// the library also has functionality to calculate task dependencies and
// task finish dates from the parsed project

const projectDependencyInformation = calculateDependencies(project, ProjectCalculationSettings.default());

// now you can find out which tasks are prerequisite for another task:
const prerequisitesForFirstTask = projectDependencyInformation.getPrerequisites(firstTask);

// or which persons are assigned to a task
const personsAssignedToFirstTask = projectDependencyInformation.getAssigments(firstTask);

// or when a task will be finished
const taskFinishDateOfFirstTask = projectDependencyInformation.getFinishDate(firstTask);

project.txt-js's Issues

Effort of finished tasks should not be uncertain

Given you have a definition like this:

[x] task 1 
[x] task 2 :<<
[ ] task 3 :~2d :<<

Task 1 and task 2 have no effort definition, hence the finish date of task 3 is marked as "uncertain". However since task 1 and task 2 are already finished, the remaining effort is actually certain - it is zero. Therefore the finish date of task 3 should not be marked as uncertain since it bases on de-facto certain finish dates of it's prerequisites.

Set up automated deployment pipeline

It should be possible to automatically deploy versions from github by tagging them.

Calculate critical path

It would be useful to have a list of tasks that form the critical path. It could be part of the calculateDependencies method and would add a isOnCriticalPath(node:Node) method to the ProjectDependencies object. The UI could then show the critical path easily.