How can I create a Visio timeline from a Microsoft Project file?

[Suzie]

Can a Microsoft Project file be used to generate a timeline in Visio? If so,
which versions of each program would I need?

 

[Suzie]

And by timeline, I don't mean Gaant chart. I mean the timelines that I can
manually create in Visio using the Timeline Shapes stencil.

 

[Al Edlund]

This from v2003pro timeline help, your mileage may vary

Import Project data to a Visio timeline
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Note You must have Microsoft Project 2000 or later installed.

1.. On the File menu, point to New, point to Project Schedule, and
then click Timeline.
2.. On the Timeline menu, click Import Timeline Data.
3.. On the first wizard page, enter or select the Project (MPP) file
you want to use to create a Microsoft Office Visio timeline, or click the
Browse button to navigate to the file you want, and then click Next.
4.. On the next wizard page, select the task types you want to
import. See the Description at the bottom for details about each task type.
5.. On the third wizard page, select the shape types you want to use
for the timeline, as well as for the milestones and intervals that appear on
your timeline. You can also click the Advanced button to set the time scale
and display options for your Visio timeline. Click OK, and then click Next.
6.. Click Finish to create a Visio timeline with the properties you
specified in the wizard.
Note If you have shapes on the current drawing page, Visio places
the timeline on a new page in your current drawing

 

[Mai-lan [MS]]

You can do this programmatically as well using the command line interface
for the solution. See the Visio 2003 Code Librarian sample on Timeline.

Thanks,
Mai-lan
Microsoft Corp.

 

[Suzie]

I don't know what the Code Librarian is. Is it code that will do what I need
already or would I need to tweak it? I'm not a programmer.

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

Both Visio 2002 and Visio 2003 provide the ability to import an MS Project
file into a timeline drawing. You should definitely try this first to see
if it meets your needs. Beyond that, Visio offers a rich programming model
if you wanted to write your own program to generate a timeline from Project
data.

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Suzie]

I'm a rotten programmer but given some simple code I could tweak it enough
to do what I want. Have anybody done this and so you have something you
could share with me?

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

Hi Suzie,

I just wanted to make sure that you understood Visio can import Project
files into timeline drawings without any code. This is a feature of the
Timeline drawing template. If you want to automate that operation, you can
write code to do so. There is an example of that in the Visio 2003 SDK.

The SDK is available here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...bd-b0bb-46e7-936a-b8539898d44d&displaylang=en

Inside the SDK you want to run the Code Librarian Viewer, choose your
programming language and then look in Integration > Timelines from Project.

--
Mark Nelson
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Al Edlund]

you might do a search (v2003) on tlimpt.exe (timeline import) in the help
facility, which is a command line tool to import and draw a timeline.
Al