Bloat

[breppucc]

I've tried about everything still no success. - Done the fix #43

Open the file and immediately doing a control save. - Did nothing

I'm getting a WINPROJ.exe error message when I do certain things like
doing a Save As - You suggested reloading MS Project on my PC which IT
did the reload other day - Didn't help.

I've tried saving the file as a mpd (Microsoft project data) file -
but I get a WINPROJ.exe error

I can copy the whole file and repaste it to a new file - which works
except that I lose the UIDs which are critical to the people that
collect this file from me.....

Frustrated Being Bloated

 

[John]

I've tried about everything still no success. - Done the fix #43

Open the file and immediately doing a control save. - Did nothing

I'm getting a WINPROJ.exe error message when I do certain things like
doing a Save As - You suggested reloading MS Project on my PC which IT
did the reload other day - Didn't help.

I've tried saving the file as a mpd (Microsoft project data) file -
but I get a WINPROJ.exe error

I can copy the whole file and repaste it to a new file - which works
except that I lose the UIDs which are critical to the people that
collect this file from me.....

Frustrated Being Bloated

breppucc,
Yeah, I know, Project can be very frustrating. It sounds like your file
has some very nasty corruption by the fact that you cannot save to .mpd.

I could suggest a few other things but they will also change the Unique
IDs. Along that line, it may possible to re-build a file and then
replicate the original Unique ID sequence but I think it would take a
rather complex VBA macro and it may not be worth it. What exactly do the
"...people who collect this file..." do with the Unique ID? Perhaps
there is a viable workaround.

John
Project MVP

 

[breppucc]

John

Unfortunately I submit this file to them weekly as a .CSV and they in
turn import it into Open Plan Professional, hence the UIDs are the keys
for them incorporation into their master schedule. My schedule right
now is about 2000 lines, theirs in total is probably somewhere around
100,000 lines.

FYI I've also tried to reimport my own data back into Project 2000 from
the .CSV but the problems are many - calendar issues - applying a
calendar somehow gets ingnored, successors losing their suffixes (i.e.
FS+20d), so basically I don't have a file that looks like my original.

I've approached the people about trying to use a new set of UIDs, but I
know that this will be very painful.

Any other ideas I'd appreciate.

Bruce

 

[John]

John

Unfortunately I submit this file to them weekly as a .CSV and they in
turn import it into Open Plan Professional, hence the UIDs are the keys
for them incorporation into their master schedule. My schedule right
now is about 2000 lines, theirs in total is probably somewhere around
100,000 lines.

FYI I've also tried to reimport my own data back into Project 2000 from
the .CSV but the problems are many - calendar issues - applying a
calendar somehow gets ingnored, successors losing their suffixes (i.e.
FS+20d), so basically I don't have a file that looks like my original.

I've approached the people about trying to use a new set of UIDs, but I
know that this will be very painful.

Any other ideas I'd appreciate.

Bruce

Bruce,
Thanks for the info - it helps. I do have a solution for you. It is not
as easy or clean as I'd like but it will give you a new "clean" file and
it will give your "customer" what they need. Interested?

The key is producing the .csv file. There are different ways to do that.
One of course is to save as a .csv - I assume that is the method you
currently use. Another method (and the one that comes to mind) is to
generate a .csv using VBA. The code should be fairly straightforward
depending on how much of Project's data is needed to make up the .csv.
If you are interested in pursuing this approach, let me know and I will
tell you how you can contact me directly. It may or may not cost you
something.

By the way, I don't remember if you are the same user I had a discussion
with in this newsgroup a week or so ago, but the subject of .csv was
discussed. The bottom line is, I hope you have not been saving your file
to .csv and then opening that back up as .mpp week after week.
Continuously translating a Project file from one format to another and
aback again is a great way to introduce corruption. If that is how you
got where you are, then heed the warning. If not, then ignore this.

John
Project MVP

 

[breppucc]

John

Unfortunately I work for a large corporation which will not allow me to
pay for anything that they think that they can fix by our internal
(outsourced) IT people. So unless its no cost I have to let them figure
it out.

The main issue I believe that I have as a problem is the WINPROJ.exe
crashes which inspite of the reinstalling of the software continues to
happen.

I've ignored your last comment.

Bruce

 

[John]

John

Unfortunately I work for a large corporation which will not allow me to
pay for anything that they think that they can fix by our internal
(outsourced) IT people. So unless its no cost I have to let them figure
it out.

The main issue I believe that I have as a problem is the WINPROJ.exe
crashes which inspite of the reinstalling of the software continues to
happen.

I've ignored your last comment.

Bruce

Bruce,
Wow I thought, what was it that I said in my last comment that was so
offensive.... and then I read my response again. OK, you're not
translating back and forth - that's good.

Well, I tell you what, unless the .csv file has a lot of complex data
(which I doubt), the code to implement my "fix" should be very simple.
That means it is no cost to you, despite your large employer who hasn't
been able to figure it out for you yet. I understand, its called
"corporate bloat". It's part of their mentality division. I know, I
worked for a large corporation too.

If you want to contact me, send me a note and we'll go from there.

John
jensenj6atatcomcastdotdotnet
remove obvious redundancies

 

[Hadi]

John,
I have the same problem and very interested in the vba code you're talking
about. i really don't care about the unique id fileds.

how can i get a hold of the vba code?

 

[John]

John,
I have the same problem and very interested in the vba code you're talking
about. i really don't care about the unique id fileds.

how can i get a hold of the vba code?

Hadi,
Refresh my memory, what is the problem? And what is the VBA code you
refer to?

John

 

[Hadi]

John,
I am referring to the second post you've posted. you mentioned that you can
come up with a vba code to rebuild a file. here is a copy of the post

John Wrote to breppucc:
breppucc,
Yeah, I know, Project can be very frustrating. It sounds like your file
has some very nasty corruption by the fact that you cannot save to .mpd.

I could suggest a few other things but they will also change the Unique
IDs. Along that line, it may possible to re-build a file and then
replicate the original Unique ID sequence but I think it would take a
rather complex VBA macro and it may not be worth it. What exactly do the
"...people who collect this file..." do with the Unique ID? Perhaps
there is a viable workaround.

John
Project MVP

 

[John]

John,
I am referring to the second post you've posted. you mentioned that you can
come up with a vba code to rebuild a file. here is a copy of the post

John Wrote to breppucc:
breppucc,
Yeah, I know, Project can be very frustrating. It sounds like your file
has some very nasty corruption by the fact that you cannot save to .mpd.

I could suggest a few other things but they will also change the Unique
IDs. Along that line, it may possible to re-build a file and then
replicate the original Unique ID sequence but I think it would take a
rather complex VBA macro and it may not be worth it. What exactly do the
"...people who collect this file..." do with the Unique ID? Perhaps
there is a viable workaround.

John
Project MVP

Hadi,
OK, so what is your question?

John

 

[dsnellen]

John,
Would it make sense for Bruce to use a task level Enterprise Field to
record the existing Unique IDs and output the CSV fole using the new
field as the UID. This creates a surrogate link between the CSV file
and the project file allowing Bruce to reorder his tasks at will. And
the importing application would be none the wiser. Just a thought.

 

[Hadi]

John,
OK... you mentioned to breppucc that there is a vba code you can give him to
rebuild his ms project files. I am interested in that code? am i missing
something here?

I have about 10 files with 10MB or bigger in size and i sure can use that
code to rebuild and hopefully reduce the size of these files.

 

[John]

John,
OK... you mentioned to breppucc that there is a vba code you can give him to
rebuild his ms project files. I am interested in that code? am i missing
something here?

I have about 10 files with 10MB or bigger in size and i sure can use that
code to rebuild and hopefully reduce the size of these files.

Hadi,
Yeah you are missing something. Read my response again. I said, "...it
may [be] possible to re-build a file and then replicate the original
Unique ID sequence but I think it would take a rather complex VBA
macro...". I didn't say I had such a macro, it would have to be
developed, and if I did develop it, it would not be freeware.

If you have bloated files, I suggest you try the techniques outlined in
FAQ 43 - File Bloat? Might be corruption.

John
Project MVP

 

[Hadi]

John,
from reading your note, it sounds like the vba code would be much simpler if
i didnt need to replicate the unique id fields. is that right?

I've tried faq 43 but didnt work. so i am stuck

how much money were talking about for developing the code? range?

John,
OK... you mentioned to breppucc that there is a vba code you can give him to
rebuild his ms project files. I am interested in that code? am i missing
something here?

I have about 10 files with 10MB or bigger in size and i sure can use that
code to rebuild and hopefully reduce the size of these files.

Hadi,
Yeah you are missing something. Read my response again. I said, "...it
may [be] possible to re-build a file and then replicate the original
Unique ID sequence but I think it would take a rather complex VBA
macro...". I didn't say I had such a macro, it would have to be
developed, and if I did develop it, it would not be freeware.

If you have bloated files, I suggest you try the techniques outlined in
FAQ 43 - File Bloat? Might be corruption.

John
Project MVP

 

[John]

John,
from reading your note, it sounds like the vba code would be much simpler if
i didnt need to replicate the unique id fields. is that right?

I've tried faq 43 but didnt work. so i am stuck

how much money were talking about for developing the code? range?

Hadi,
Yes the VBA code to rebuild a Project file might be simpler if the
Unique ID didn't need to be replicated. However, at this point it is not
obvious to me that you even need VBA. Simply having several files that
are 10M in size doesn't necessarily mean there is a problem. Many users
work with huge files and they may be several megabytes in size. Are your
files acting strange (e.g. fail to open, data messed up, etc.)? What
happened when you tried the recommendations of FAQ 43 (i.e. before and
after)? What is the structure of your files (i.e. single, consolidated,
resource pool, etc.)? Do your files have tons of links? Do your files
have inserted graphics or pictures? Are you using Server or stand alone
Project? Which version?

John
Project MVP

 

[Hadi]

John,
nothing happens when i try the FAQ 43 workaround. the file sizes stay the
same. I am using stand alone version with no external pictures or objects
inserted. i am not using a resource pool

my files have been increasing in size lately but no data corruption yet.
these files are static consolidated masters. each file has about 20 project
schedule with 40 activities in each one. the links are not enormous at all.
it just seems like anytime we update/edit the files they get bigger and bigger

thanks

 

[John]

John,
nothing happens when i try the FAQ 43 workaround. the file sizes stay the
same. I am using stand alone version with no external pictures or objects
inserted. i am not using a resource pool

my files have been increasing in size lately but no data corruption yet.
these files are static consolidated masters. each file has about 20 project
schedule with 40 activities in each one. the links are not enormous at all.
it just seems like anytime we update/edit the files they get bigger and
bigger

thanks

Hadi,
If I understand your structure correctly you have 10 master files (from
your previous post). Each of those masters is a statically consolidated
file (i.e. Insert/Project with "link to project" unchecked) of 20
subprojects and each of those subprojects has 40 tasks. If that is
correct, then I agree, those masters should not be anywhere near 10M in
size. They have some serious "bloat". If my understanding of your file
structure is not correct, then please explain again in more detail.

Even though you already have static masters, you might want to try the
following. For each subproject (i.e. files with 40 tasks) create a
static master of that subproject only. Then do a Save As. After all 20
files have been re-built in this manner, create your new all-up masters
with the 20 files. That should clear the bloat. I also recommend that
you always use Save As when you save changes to any of the files. There
are those who disagree that this makes any difference but I always use
Save As and I never get bloated files.

John
Project MVP

 

[Hadi]

John,
I appreciate the instructions. the problem is i dont have the 40 task
subprojects in individual files. also, these subprojects also resource and
cost loaded (labor & material resources). when i build these files originaly
i grabbed my template, copied it and paste it 20 times in one file and
started the update/edit. should i grab each one of the masters and start
deleting the subprojects and then save as once i have each project in a file
by itself. then i can start rebuilding the masters again?

thanks again

 

[John]

John,
I appreciate the instructions. the problem is i dont have the 40 task
subprojects in individual files. also, these subprojects also resource and
cost loaded (labor & material resources). when i build these files originaly
i grabbed my template, copied it and paste it 20 times in one file and
started the update/edit. should i grab each one of the masters and start
deleting the subprojects and then save as once i have each project in a file
by itself. then i can start rebuilding the masters again?

thanks again

Hadi,
Sooooooo, there's more to the story. I'm not surprised. If I understand
what you are saying now, you don't really have a master with subprojects
because the "subprojects" were not inserted, they were copied, so it
sounds like you simply have one large file with 20 summary lines, each
of which has 40 subtasks. If that is NOT your structure, then I'm still
confused as to what you really have.

Nonetheless it sounds like it is worth a try to break up each of the
"masters" and delete all but one of the "projects" and Save As. Then
rebuild.

John
Project MVP

 

[Hadi]

John,
you are correct about my structure now

i tried to breakup one master file by deleting all projects but one then
save as. the file size stayed the same. i then had to use the FAQ43 fix and
it cut the file to 1.5MB. isnt that still big for a 40 task file? i think if
i rebuild the project again i'll sill get the 10MB back