"Invalid Date" Message while opening integrated plans

[Muthukumar G.]

Hi

I am having an integrated plan with 13 sub plans. I am receiveing "invalid
date" Message with the following details - "This is not a valid date, or it
is outside the range of dates, which is 01 january 1984 through 31 December
2049. Type a date in the correct format; for example, 15/06/00 or 15 June
2000" - but it is not showing where is the problem.. !! when i opened the
indivdual files, some files are showing that error, but others are not..
still it is not showing where is the issue..!! can somebody help me on this..
Thanks in advance..

with regards
Muthukumar
EPMO Project planner.
CSC india

 

[Rod Gill]

If you have project inserted into a master and you have ever renamed, moved
or renamed any of the files it is possible you have a file corruption. You
may need to unlink the files then save as xml then re-open from xml before
saving as .mpp again.

It is much safer to insert projects with the link option off. this copies
all data. I record a macro of me creating the master then run it weekly for
a snapshot across all projects. No links no corruptions!

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

 

[Rob Schneider]

Gosh. Hard to see how that date got in there in the first place. Is it
happening on opening the file? Can the file open? Are you doing some
sort of automated load or import of data into Project? If yes, I would
look first at the date fields you are "touching". Then look at the date
fields that might have user entry. Finally, look at the date fields
that are computed by Project (although maybe it's a computation that
causes this?).

 

[Rob Schneider]

If you have project inserted into a master and you have ever renamed,
moved or renamed any of the files it is possible you have a file
corruption. You may need to unlink the files then save as xml then
re-open from xml before saving as .mpp again.

It is much safer to insert projects with the link option off. this
copies all data. I record a macro of me creating the master then run it
weekly for a snapshot across all projects. No links no corruptions!

Ah. Yes. That's it. Corrupted file. I'd bet on it.

 

[Muthukumar G.]

I am getting errors on few single files too..!! I hope the same reflects
inside the master plan..!!

 

[Muthukumar G.]

Hi Rob,

The file opens successfully, but it shows the message. i am not doing any
automated process, just clicking the file to open from local folder. also
there are no custom calculation columns other then usual ones.

Any idea..!!

Thanks again

 

[Rob Schneider]

The idea, prompted by Rod and I tend to agree, is that the file is
corrupted. http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm gives suggestions.

 

[Muthukumar G.]

Hi Rob
The individual plans are opening without any errors. I even re-created links
of all linked project plans from master plan. I cannot un-check “link to
project†because I need to have them separate plans and a master plan for
total process reports. Is there any other suggestions..!! any debug mode to
find out where it happens..!! I mean, in which plan it happens.!! So that I
can concentrate on that single file to fix the issue..!!
Thanks
With regards
Muthukumar.G


The

 

[John]

Hi Rob
The individual plans are opening without any errors. I even re-created links
of all linked project plans from master plan. I cannot un-check “link to
project†because I need to have them separate plans and a master plan for
total process reports. Is there any other suggestions..!! any debug mode to
find out where it happens..!! I mean, in which plan it happens.!! So that I
can concentrate on that single file to fix the issue..!!
Thanks
With regards
Muthukumar.G

Muthukumar,
Pardon me for butting in. I read the original thread and felt that
between Rod and Rob, you should be on the path to resolution, but I
guess that's not the case.

If I read the thread correctly, the last suggestion by Rob was to
eliminate file corruption using one or more of the methods in our MVP
FAQ 43. It's not apparent from your latest post whether you did that or
not. Did you?

Also you mention that you cannot uncheck the "link to project" but I'm
not sure you understand what that does and does not do. Converting a
dynamic master (linked subprojects) to a static master (unlinked
subprojects) does NOT change the existing subprojects. Instead of a link
pointer in the master, Project copies the entire contents of each
subproject into the master. You can always create a new dynamic master.
I'd try the conversion and see if that points out the area of the
problem.

You obviously have subprojects linked to the master but I don't see
anything in your posts indicating whether you have task links between
subprojects. If you do there is a very real possiblity there is either
link corruption between the files or perhaps a circular relationship.
I've seen this many times with master files users have created.
Unfortunately converting a dynamic master to a static master will NOT
preserve interfile task links, so you will not be able to catch those
problems without a macro to do a full conversion.

John
Project MVP