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[(https://reference.aspose.com/tasks/net/aspose.tasks/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
 1// Create new project
 2Project project = new Project("New Project.mpp");
 3
 4// Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Text1 type
 5var taskExtendedAttributeText1Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition.CreateTaskDefinition(CustomFieldType.Text, ExtendedAttributeTask.Text1, "Task City Name");
 6
 7// Add it to the project's Extended Attributes collection
 8project.ExtendedAttributes.Add(taskExtendedAttributeText1Definition);
 9
10// Add a task to the project
11Task task = project.RootTask.Children.Add("Task 1");
12
13// Create an Extended Attribute from the Attribute Definition
14var taskExtendedAttributeText1 = taskExtendedAttributeText1Definition.CreateExtendedAttribute();
15
16// Assign a value to the generated Extended Attribute. The type of the attribute is "Text", the "TextValue" property should be used.
17taskExtendedAttributeText1.TextValue = "London";
18
19// Add the Extended Attribute to task
20task.ExtendedAttributes.Add(taskExtendedAttributeText1);
21
22project.Save("PlainTextExtendedAttribute_out.mpp", SaveFileFormat.MPP);
23
24Project project = new Project("New Project.mpp");
25
26// Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Text2 type
27var taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition.CreateLookupTaskDefinition(CustomFieldType.Text, ExtendedAttributeTask.Text2, "Task Towns Name");
28
29// Add lookup values for the extended attribute definition
30taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition.AddLookupValue(new Value { Id = 1, StringValue = "Town1", Description = "This is Town1" });
31taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition.AddLookupValue(new Value { Id = 2, StringValue = "Town2", Description = "This is Town2" });
32
33// Add it to the project's Extended Attributes collection
34project.ExtendedAttributes.Add(taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition);
35
36// Add a task to the project
37var task2 = project.RootTask.Children.Add("Task 2");
38
39// Crate an Extended Attribute from the Text2 Lookup Definition for Id 1
40var taskExtendedAttributeText2 = taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition.CreateExtendedAttribute(taskExtendedAttributeText2Definition.ValueList[1]);
41
42// Add the Extended Attribute to task
43task2.ExtendedAttributes.Add(taskExtendedAttributeText2);
44
45project.Save("TextExtendedAttributeWithLookup_out.mpp", SaveFileFormat.MPP);
46
47Project project2 = new Project("New Project.mpp");
48
49// Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Duration2 type
50var taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition.CreateLookupTaskDefinition(CustomFieldType.Duration, ExtendedAttributeTask.Duration2, "Some duration");
51
52// Add lookup values for extended attribute definition
53taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.AddLookupValue(new Value { Id = 2, Duration = project2.GetDuration(4, TimeUnitType.Hour), Description = "4 hours" });
54taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.AddLookupValue(new Value { Id = 3, Duration = project2.GetDuration(1, TimeUnitType.Day), Description = "1 day" });
55taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.AddLookupValue(new Value { Id = 4, Duration = project2.GetDuration(1, TimeUnitType.Hour), Description = "1 hour" });
56taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.AddLookupValue(new Value { Id = 7, Duration = project2.GetDuration(10, TimeUnitType.Day), Description = "10 days" });
57
58// Add the definition to the project's Extended Attributes collection
59project2.ExtendedAttributes.Add(taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition);
60
61// Add a task to the project
62var task3 = project2.RootTask.Children.Add("Task 3");
63
64// Create an Extended Attribute from the Duration2 Lookup Definition for Id 3
65var taskExtendedAttributeDuration2 = taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.CreateExtendedAttribute(taskExtendedAttributeDuration2Definition.ValueList[3]);
66
67// Add the Extended Attribute to task
68task3.ExtendedAttributes.Add(taskExtendedAttributeDuration2);
69
70project2.Save("DurationExtendedAttributeWithLookup_out.mpp", SaveFileFormat.MPP);
71
72Project project3 = new Project("New Project.mpp");
73
74// Create an Extended Attribute Definition of Finish2 Type
75var taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition = ExtendedAttributeDefinition.CreateLookupTaskDefinition(CustomFieldType.Finish, ExtendedAttributeTask.Finish2, "Some finish");
76
77// Add lookup values for extended attribute defintion
78taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition.AddLookupValue(new Value { Id = 2, DateTimeValue = new DateTime(1984, 01, 01, 00, 00, 01), Description = "This is Value2" });
79taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition.AddLookupValue(new Value { Id = 3, DateTimeValue = new DateTime(1994, 01, 01, 00, 01, 01), Description = "This is Value3" });
80taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition.AddLookupValue(new Value { Id = 4, DateTimeValue = new DateTime(2009, 12, 31, 00, 00, 00), Description = "This is Value4" });
81taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition.AddLookupValue(new Value { Id = 7, DateTimeValue = DateTime.Now, Description = "This is Value6" });
82
83// Add the definition to the project's Extended Attributes collection
84project3.ExtendedAttributes.Add(taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition);
85
86// Add a task to the project
87var task4 = project3.RootTask.Children.Add("Task 4");
88
89// Create an Extended Attribute from the Finish2 Lookup Definition for Id 3
90var taskExtendedAttributeFinish2 = taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition.CreateExtendedAttribute(taskExtendedAttributeFinish2Definition.ValueList[3]);
91
92// Add the Extended Attribute to task
93task4.ExtendedAttributes.Add(taskExtendedAttributeFinish2);
94
95project3.Save("FinishExtendedAttributeWithLookup_out.mpp", SaveFileFormat.MPP);

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

 1Project project = new Project("New Project.mpp");
 2
 3// Read extended attributes for tasks
 4foreach (Task task in project.RootTask.Children)
 5{
 6    foreach (ExtendedAttribute ea in task.ExtendedAttributes)
 7    {
 8        Console.WriteLine(ea.FieldId);
 9        Console.WriteLine(ea.ValueGuid);
10
11        switch (ea.AttributeDefinition.CfType)
12        {
13            case CustomFieldType.Date:
14            case CustomFieldType.Start:
15            case CustomFieldType.Finish:
16                Console.WriteLine(ea.DateValue);
17                break;
18
19            case CustomFieldType.Text:
20                Console.WriteLine(ea.TextValue);
21                break;
22
23            case CustomFieldType.Duration:
24                Console.WriteLine(ea.DurationValue.ToString());
25                break;
26
27            case CustomFieldType.Cost:
28            case CustomFieldType.Number:
29                Console.WriteLine(ea.NumericValue);
30                break;
31
32            case CustomFieldType.Flag:
33                Console.WriteLine(ea.FlagValue);
34                break;
35        }
36    }
37}
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