Writing Metadata to MPP

Aspose.Tasks for .NET provides a facility for writing metadata to MPP files for calendars, tasks, task links, resources and resource assignments.

Writing Metadata to Microsoft Project Files

The following metadata is used in this example:

• Calendar
  • CalendarName
• Task
  • Contact
  • IsMarked
  • IgnoreWarnings
• TaskLink
  • LagFormat
  • LinkLag
• Resource
  • Type
  • Initials
  • MaxUnits
  • Code
  • Group
  • EmailAddress
  • NTAccount
  • IsGeneric
  • AccrueAt
  • TeamAssignmentPool
  • CostCenter
• ResourceAssignment
  • Uid
  • Work
  • RemainingWork
  • RegularWork
  • Start
  • Finish

Here IsMarked and IgnoreWarnings are newly added fields for a task. Similarly for resources, the TeamAssignmentPool and CostCenter properties are provided.

The following steps are followed in the sample code to demonstrate how to write metadata to MPP files:

1. Open a new, blank MPP file.
2. Add working times on Monday of the project calendar and change the project calendar name.
3. Add three tasks with task links and lags.
4. Add two resources, one budget work and one budget cost resource (four in total).
5. Assign budget resources to the project root task (the project summary task).
6. Assign another two resources to the first and second tasks.
7. Set the project baseline.
8. Add a new task extended attribute.
9. Save changes as an MPP file.

Project project = new Project("New Project.mpp");

// Add working times to project calendar
WorkingTime wt = new WorkingTime();
wt.FromTime = new DateTime(2010, 1, 1, 19, 0, 0);
wt.ToTime = new DateTime(2010, 1, 1, 20, 0, 0);
WeekDay day = project.Get(Prj.Calendar).WeekDays.ToList()[1];
day.WorkingTimes.Add(wt);

// Change calendar name
project.Get(Prj.Calendar).Name = "CHANGED NAME!";

// Add tasks and set task meta data
Task task = project.RootTask.Children.Add("Task 1");
task.Set(Tsk.DurationFormat, TimeUnitType.Day);
task.Set(Tsk.Duration, project.GetDuration(3));
task.Set(Tsk.Contact, "Rsc 1");
task.Set(Tsk.IsMarked, true);
task.Set(Tsk.IgnoreWarnings, true);
Task task2 = project.RootTask.Children.Add("Task 2");
task2.Set(Tsk.DurationFormat, TimeUnitType.Day);
task2.Set(Tsk.Contact, "Rsc 2");

// Link tasks
project.TaskLinks.Add(task, task2, TaskLinkType.FinishToStart, project.GetDuration(-1, TimeUnitType.Day));

// Set project start date
project.Set(Prj.StartDate, new DateTime(2013, 8, 13, 9, 0, 0));

// Add resource and set resource meta data
Resource resource = project.Resources.Add("Rsc 1");
resource.Set(Rsc.Type, ResourceType.Work);
resource.Set(Rsc.Initials, "WR");
resource.Set(Rsc.AccrueAt, CostAccrualType.Prorated);
resource.Set(Rsc.MaxUnits, 1);
resource.Set(Rsc.Code, "Code 1");
resource.Set(Rsc.Group, "Workers");
resource.Set(Rsc.EMailAddress, "[e-mail]");
resource.Set(Rsc.WindowsUserAccount, "user_acc1");
resource.Set(Rsc.IsGeneric, new NullableBool(true));
resource.Set(Rsc.AccrueAt, CostAccrualType.End);
resource.Set(Rsc.StandardRate, 10);
resource.Set(Rsc.StandardRateFormat, RateFormatType.Day);
resource.Set(Rsc.OvertimeRate, 15);
resource.Set(Rsc.OvertimeRateFormat, RateFormatType.Hour);
resource.Set(Rsc.IsTeamAssignmentPool, true);
resource.Set(Rsc.CostCenter, "Cost Center 1");

// Create resource assignment and set resource assignment meta data
ResourceAssignment assignment = project.ResourceAssignments.Add(task, resource);
assignment.Set(Asn.Uid, 1);
assignment.Set(Asn.Work, task.Get(Tsk.Duration));
assignment.Set(Asn.RemainingWork, assignment.Get(Asn.Work));
assignment.Set(Asn.RegularWork, assignment.Get(Asn.Work));
task.Set(Tsk.Work, assignment.Get(Asn.Work));

resource.Set(Rsc.Work, task.Get(Tsk.Work));
assignment.Set(Asn.Start, task.Get(Tsk.Start));
assignment.Set(Asn.Finish, task.Get(Tsk.Finish));

// Add extended attribute for project and task
ExtendedAttributeDefinition attr = ExtendedAttributeDefinition.CreateTaskDefinition(CustomFieldType.Flag, ExtendedAttributeTask.Flag1,  "My Flag Field");
project.ExtendedAttributes.Add(attr);

ExtendedAttribute taskAttr = attr.CreateExtendedAttribute();
taskAttr.FlagValue = true;
task2.ExtendedAttributes.Add(taskAttr);

project.Save("WriteMetaData_out.mpp", SaveFileFormat.MPP);