Working with Extended Task Attributes

In Microsoft Project, an extended task attribute is an element used to capture data for a custom task field. Aspose.Tasks can create as well as retrieve extended attribute information for all versions of Microsoft Project: 2003, 2007, 2010, and 2013.

Adding Extended Attribute Information for a Task

Creating an Extended attribute requires the following steps:

1. Create ExtendedAttributeDefinition for the Attribute with necessary parameters
2. Create ExtendedAttribute from the definition in the previous step
3. Add the created ExtendedAttribute to the task

// The path to the documents directory.
System::String dataDir = RunExamples::GetDataDir(System::Reflection::MethodBase::GetCurrentMethod(ASPOSE_CURRENT_FUNCTION)->get_DeclaringType().get_FullName());
        
// Create new project
System::SharedPtr<Project> project = System::MakeObject<Project>(dataDir + u"Blank2010.mpp");
        
        
// C# preprocessor directive: #region Adding Plain Text Attribute
        
//Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Text1 type
auto taskExtendedAttributeText1Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition::CreateTaskDefinition(Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Text, Aspose::Tasks::ExtendedAttributeTask::Text1, u"Task City Name");
        
//Add it to the project's Extended Attributes collection
project->get_ExtendedAttributes()->Add(taskExtendedAttributeText1Definition);
        
//Add a task to the project
auto task = project->get_RootTask()->get_Children()->Add(u"Task 1");
        
//Create an Extended Attribute from the Attribute Definition
auto taskExtendedAttributeText1 = taskExtendedAttributeText1Definition->CreateExtendedAttribute();
        
//Assign a value to the generated Extended Attribute. The type of the attribute is "Text", the "TextValue" property should be used.
taskExtendedAttributeText1->set_TextValue(u"London");
        
//Add the Extended Attribute to task
task->get_ExtendedAttributes()->Add(taskExtendedAttributeText1);
        
project->Save(dataDir + u"PlainTextExtendedAttribute_out.mpp", Aspose::Tasks::Saving::SaveFileFormat::MPP);
        
// C# preprocessor directive: #endregion
        
        
        
// C# preprocessor directive: #region Adding Text Attribute with Lookup option
        
        
System::SharedPtr<Project> project1 = System::MakeObject<Project>(dataDir + u"Blank2010.mpp");
        
//Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Text2 type
auto taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition::CreateLookupTaskDefinition(Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Text, Aspose::Tasks::ExtendedAttributeTask::Text2, u"Task Towns Name");
        
//Add lookup values for the extended attribute definition
taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition->AddLookupValue([&]{ auto tmp_0 = System::MakeObject<Value>(); tmp_0->set_Id(1); tmp_0->set_StringValue(u"Town1"); tmp_0->set_Description(u"This is Town1"); return tmp_0; }());
taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition->AddLookupValue([&]{ auto tmp_1 = System::MakeObject<Value>(); tmp_1->set_Id(2); tmp_1->set_StringValue(u"Town2"); tmp_1->set_Description(u"This is Town2"); return tmp_1; }());
        
//Add it to the porject's Extended Attributes collection
project1->get_ExtendedAttributes()->Add(taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition);
        
//Add a task to the project
auto task2 = project1->get_RootTask()->get_Children()->Add(u"Task 2");
        
//Crate an Extended Attribute from the Text2 Lookup Definition for Id 1
auto taskExtendedAttributeText2 = taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition->CreateExtendedAttribute(taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition->get_ValueList()->idx_get(1));
        
//Add the Extended Attribute to task
task2->get_ExtendedAttributes()->Add(taskExtendedAttributeText2);
        
project1->Save(dataDir + u"TextExtendedAttributeWithLookup_out.mpp", Aspose::Tasks::Saving::SaveFileFormat::MPP);
        
// C# preprocessor directive: #endregion
        
        
        
// C# preprocessor directive: #region Adding Duration Attribute with Lookup option
        
        
System::SharedPtr<Project> project2 = System::MakeObject<Project>(dataDir + u"Blank2010.mpp");
        
//Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Duration2 type
auto taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition::CreateLookupTaskDefinition(Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Duration, Aspose::Tasks::ExtendedAttributeTask::Duration2, u"Some duration");
        
//Add lookup values for extended attribute definition
taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition->AddLookupValue([&]{ auto tmp_2 = System::MakeObject<Value>(); tmp_2->set_Id(2); tmp_2->set_Duration(project2->GetDuration(4, Aspose::Tasks::TimeUnitType::Hour)); tmp_2->set_Description(u"4 hours"); return tmp_2; }());
taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition->AddLookupValue([&]{ auto tmp_3 = System::MakeObject<Value>(); tmp_3->set_Id(3); tmp_3->set_Duration(project2->GetDuration(1, Aspose::Tasks::TimeUnitType::Day)); tmp_3->set_Description(u"1 day"); return tmp_3; }());
taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition->AddLookupValue([&]{ auto tmp_4 = System::MakeObject<Value>(); tmp_4->set_Id(4); tmp_4->set_Duration(project2->GetDuration(1, Aspose::Tasks::TimeUnitType::Hour)); tmp_4->set_Description(u"1 hour"); return tmp_4; }());
taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition->AddLookupValue([&]{ auto tmp_5 = System::MakeObject<Value>(); tmp_5->set_Id(7); tmp_5->set_Duration(project2->GetDuration(10, Aspose::Tasks::TimeUnitType::Day)); tmp_5->set_Description(u"10 days"); return tmp_5; }());
        
//Add the definition to the project's Extended Attributes collection
project2->get_ExtendedAttributes()->Add(taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition);
        
//Add a task to the project
auto task3 = project2->get_RootTask()->get_Children()->Add(u"Task 3");
        
//Create an Extended Attribute from the Duration2 Lookup Definition for Id 3
auto taskExtendedAttributeDuration2 = taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition->CreateExtendedAttribute(taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition->get_ValueList()->idx_get(3));
        
//Add the Extended Attribute to task
task3->get_ExtendedAttributes()->Add(taskExtendedAttributeDuration2);
        
project2->Save(dataDir + u"DurationExtendedAttributeWithLookup_out.mpp", Aspose::Tasks::Saving::SaveFileFormat::MPP);
        
        
// C# preprocessor directive: #endregion
        
        
        
// C# preprocessor directive: #region Adding Date-Time with Lookup option
        
        
System::SharedPtr<Project> project3 = System::MakeObject<Project>(dataDir + u"Blank2010.mpp");
        
//Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Finish2 Type
auto taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition::CreateLookupTaskDefinition(Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Finish, Aspose::Tasks::ExtendedAttributeTask::Finish2, u"Some finish");
        
//Add lookup values for extended attribute defintion
taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition->AddLookupValue([&]{ auto tmp_6 = System::MakeObject<Value>(); tmp_6->set_Id(2); tmp_6->set_DateTimeValue(System::DateTime(1984, 1, 1, 00, 00, 1)); tmp_6->set_Description(u"This is Value2"); return tmp_6; }());
taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition->AddLookupValue([&]{ auto tmp_7 = System::MakeObject<Value>(); tmp_7->set_Id(3); tmp_7->set_DateTimeValue(System::DateTime(1994, 1, 1, 00, 1, 1)); tmp_7->set_Description(u"This is Value3"); return tmp_7; }());
taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition->AddLookupValue([&]{ auto tmp_8 = System::MakeObject<Value>(); tmp_8->set_Id(4); tmp_8->set_DateTimeValue(System::DateTime(2009, 12, 31, 00, 00, 00)); tmp_8->set_Description(u"This is Value4"); return tmp_8; }());
taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition->AddLookupValue([&]{ auto tmp_9 = System::MakeObject<Value>(); tmp_9->set_Id(7); tmp_9->set_DateTimeValue(System::DateTime::get_Now()); tmp_9->set_Description(u"This is Value6"); return tmp_9; }());
        
//Add the definition to the project's Extended Attributes collection
project3->get_ExtendedAttributes()->Add(taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition);
        
//Add a task to the project
auto task4 = project3->get_RootTask()->get_Children()->Add(u"Task 4");
        
//Create an Extneded Attribute from the Finish2 Lookup Definition for Id 3
auto taskExtendedAttributeFinish2 = taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition->CreateExtendedAttribute(taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition->get_ValueList()->idx_get(3));
        
//Add the Extended Attribute to task
task4->get_ExtendedAttributes()->Add(taskExtendedAttributeFinish2);
        
// Save the Project               
project3->Save(dataDir + u"FinishExtendedAttributeWithLookup_out.mpp", Aspose::Tasks::Saving::SaveFileFormat::MPP);
        
// C# preprocessor directive: #endregion
        
        
        

Reading Extended Task Attributes Information

The ExtendedAttribute property exposed by the Task class is used to manage a task’s extended attributes. This property reads and writes an ArrayList of ExtendedAttribute objects to deal with a task’s extended attributes. The ExtendedAttribute object further exposes the relevant properties.

The following code example demonstrates how to view a task’s extended attributes.

// Create project instance
System::String dataDir = RunExamples::GetDataDir(System::Reflection::MethodBase::GetCurrentMethod(ASPOSE_CURRENT_FUNCTION)->get_DeclaringType().get_FullName());
System::SharedPtr<Project> project1 = System::MakeObject<Project>(dataDir + u"ReadTaskExtendedAttributes.mpp");
    
// Read extended attributes for tasks
    
{
    auto tsk_enumerator = (project1->get_RootTask()->get_Children())->GetEnumerator();
    decltype(tsk_enumerator->get_Current()) tsk;
    while (tsk_enumerator->MoveNext() && (tsk = tsk_enumerator->get_Current(), true))
    {
        auto ea_enumerator = (tsk->get_ExtendedAttributes())->GetEnumerator();
        decltype(ea_enumerator->get_Current()) ea;
        while (ea_enumerator->MoveNext() && (ea = ea_enumerator->get_Current(), true))
        {
            System::Console::WriteLine(ea->get_FieldId());
            System::Console::WriteLine(ea->get_ValueGuid());
            
            switch (ea->get_AttributeDefinition()->get_CfType())
            {
                case Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Date:
                case Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Start:
                case Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Finish:
                    System::Console::WriteLine(System::ObjectExt::Box<System::DateTime>(ea->get_DateValue()));
                    break;
                
                case Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Text:
                    System::Console::WriteLine(ea->get_TextValue());
                    break;
                
                case Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Duration:
                    System::Console::WriteLine(System::ObjectExt::ToString(ea->get_DurationValue()));
                    break;
                
                case Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Cost:
                case Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Number:
                    System::Console::WriteLine(ea->get_NumericValue());
                    break;
                
                case Aspose::Tasks::CustomFieldType::Flag:
                    System::Console::WriteLine(ea->get_FlagValue());
                    break;
                
                default:
                    break;
            }
        }
    }
}