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 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.
String dataDir = Utils.getDataDir(AddTaskExtendedAttributes.class);

// Create new project
Project project = new Project(dataDir + "project.mpp");

//1.    Adding Plain Text Attribute

//Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Text1 type
ExtendedAttributeDefinition taskExtendedAttributeText1Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition.createTaskDefinition(CustomFieldType.Text, ExtendedAttributeTask.Text1, "Task City Name");

//Add it to the project's Extended Attributes collection
project.getExtendedAttributes().add(taskExtendedAttributeText1Definition);

//Add a task to the project
Task task = project.getRootTask().getChildren().add("Task 1");

//Create an Extended Attribute from the Attribute Definition
ExtendedAttribute taskExtendedAttributeText1 = taskExtendedAttributeText1Definition.createExtendedAttribute();

//Assign a value to the generated Extended Attribute
taskExtendedAttributeText1.setTextValue("London");

//Add the Extended Attribute to task
task.getExtendedAttributes().add(taskExtendedAttributeText1);

project.save(dataDir + "PlainTextExtendedAttribute_out.mpp", SaveFileFormat.MPP);

//2.    Adding Text Attribute with Lookup option
Project project1 = new Project(dataDir + "project.mpp");

//Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Text2 type
ExtendedAttributeDefinition taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition.createLookupTaskDefinition(CustomFieldType.Text, ExtendedAttributeTask.Text2, "Task Towns Name");

//Add lookup values for the extended attribute definition
Value val = new Value();
val.setId(1);
val.setStringValue("Town1");
val.setDescription("This is Town1");
taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition.addLookupValue(val);

val = new Value();
val.setId(2);
val.setStringValue("Town2");
val.setDescription("This is Town2");
taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition.addLookupValue(val);

//Add it to the porject's Extended Attributes collection
project1.getExtendedAttributes().add(taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition);

//Add a task to the project
Task task2 = project1.getRootTask().getChildren().add("Task 2");

//Crate an Extended Attribute from the Text2 Lookup Definition for Id 1
ExtendedAttribute taskExtendedAttributeText2 = taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition.createExtendedAttribute(taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition.getValueList().get(1));

//Add the Extended Attribute to task
task2.getExtendedAttributes().add(taskExtendedAttributeText2);

project1.save(dataDir + "TextExtendedAttributeWithLookup_out.mpp", SaveFileFormat.MPP);

//3.    Adding Duration Attribute with Lookup option

Project project2 = new Project(dataDir + "project.mpp");

//Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Duration2 type
ExtendedAttributeDefinition taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition.createLookupTaskDefinition(CustomFieldType.Duration, ExtendedAttributeTask.Duration2, "Some duration");

//Add lookup values for extended attribute definition
val = new Value();
val.setId(2);
val.setDuration(project2.getDuration(4, TimeUnitType.Hour));
val.setDescription("4 hours");
taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.addLookupValue(val);


val = new Value();
val.setId(3);
val.setDuration(project2.getDuration(8, TimeUnitType.Day));
val.setDescription("1 day");
taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.addLookupValue(val);

val = new Value();
val.setId(4);
val.setDuration(project2.getDuration(1, TimeUnitType.Hour));
val.setDescription("1 hour");
taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.addLookupValue(val);

val = new Value();
val.setId(7);
val.setDuration(project2.getDuration(10, TimeUnitType.Day));
val.setDescription("10 days");
taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.addLookupValue(val);

//Add the definition to the project's Extended Attributes collection
project2.getExtendedAttributes().add(taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition);

//Add a task to the project
Task task3 = project2.getRootTask().getChildren().add("Task 3");

//Create an Extended Attribute from the Duration2 Lookup Definition for Id 3
ExtendedAttribute taskExtendedAttributeDuration2 = taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.createExtendedAttribute(taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.getValueList().get(3));

//Add the Extended Attribute to task
task3.getExtendedAttributes().add(taskExtendedAttributeDuration2);

project2.save(dataDir + "DurationExtendedAttributeWithLookup_out.mpp", SaveFileFormat.MPP);

Reading Extended Task Attributes

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 example shows how to view a task’s extended attributes with Aspose.Tasks.

// The path to the documents directory.
String dataDir = Utils.getDataDir(ExtendedTaskAttributes.class);

Project project = new Project(dataDir + "Input.mpp");

for (Task tsk:project.getRootTask().getChildren())
{
        for (ExtendedAttribute ea:tsk.getExtendedAttributes())
        {
               System.out.println(ea.getFieldId());
               System.out.println(ea.getValueGuid());
               
               switch (ea.getAttributeDefinition().getCfType())
               {
                   case CustomFieldType.Date:
                   case CustomFieldType.Start:
                   case CustomFieldType.Finish:
                       System.out.println(ea.getDateValue());
                       break;

                   case CustomFieldType.Text:
                       System.out.println(ea.getTextValue());
                       break;

                   case CustomFieldType.Duration:
                       System.out.println(ea.getDurationValue().toString());
                       break;

                   case CustomFieldType.Cost:
                   case CustomFieldType.Number:
                       System.out.println(ea.getNumericValue());
                       break;

                   case CustomFieldType.Flag:
                       System.out.println(ea.getFlagValue());
                       break;
               }
        }
}