Merging XML data into active project

[Sam Watson]

I have a single MPP that contains a list of release dates for
products. It is referenced by several other MPP files. To keep this up
to date, I have scripted an XML generator that grabs the latest dates.
When I load this XML file into a blank MPP file, it looks fine.
However, when I try to merge the XML file into the MPP with full data
already there, the tasks are not updated with the correct start/end
dates. I'm generating the XML file with only this data:

<Project>
<Tasks>
<Task>
<Name>Widget 1 Release Date</Name>
<Start>2008-05-30T00:00:00</Start>
<Finish>2008-05-30T00:00:00</Finish>
<Duration>PT0H0M0S</Duration>
<DurationFormat>7</DurationFormat>
<Milestone>1</Milestone>
<Summary>0</Summary>
</Task>
<Task>
<Name>Widget 2 Release Date</Name>
<Start>2009-10-23T00:00:00</Start>
<Finish>2009-10-23T00:00:00</Finish>
<Duration>PT0H0M0S</Duration>
<DurationFormat>7</DurationFormat>
<Milestone>1</Milestone>
<Summary>0</Summary>
</Task>
</Tasks>
</Project>

Once this is loaded, if I then change the date for Widget 2 and
attempt to open the XML and select "merge", the Widget 2 task in MPP
Is not udpated with the new date.

Is there something I'm missing here?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Sam Watson]

Oops - this is Project 2007.

 

[JulieS]

Hello Sam,

I am not by any means terribly well versed in XML, so let me at
least start the conversation with you by asking a few questions.
Perhaps with some clarification, we can get started on the right
path.

You mention you are using Project 2007-- what service pack do you
have applied? Project 2007 is up to service pack 2 and if memory
serves me correctly, there were some issues relating to XML import
that may have been corrected with some of the sps.

Also a bit of clarification. You note that you have a project file
that is "referenced by several other" files. Is your file a master
project file?

It appears as though you are pulling in through the XML only
milestone data. Are those milestones in turned linked to other
tasks -- are they successors to other tasks?

While you work on those issues, I'll be experimenting and seeing if
I can reproduce a similar issue to the one you report.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

"Sam Watson" wrote in message
Oops - this is Project 2007.

 

[Sam Watson]

Hi Julie,

I am running SP2 MSO (12.0.6425.1000).

I have a bunch of individual schedule files, per functional project
(authored by individual managers). I then have a a separate MPP that
contains just milestones for each widget. Each manager will/might need
to reference these dates in their individual schedules. In order to
keep this file up to date, I wanted to be able to merge updates in by
importing the milestones as XML.

I do have a "master" project which includes all other files, but each
indiv file references tasks (milestones) from my WidgetMilestones MPP.

I hope that's clearer. Thanks for your help.

I'm having trouble finding any info on importing XML, other than the
XML schema itself. I'm just guessing that the merge functionality
would update dates based on a common task name... maybe I'm using it
incorrectly. If anyone can point me at some doc that explains it, I'll
gladly RTFM.

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Rob Schneider]

If I'm understanding what you are trying to do ... why don't you have
one MPP file which holds only tasks that are milestones, keep it up to
date in the normal way, and then re-distribute it to the individual
managers as an MPP file for their use, inclusion in sets of
master/submaster collections, etc. Not sure I see the need to "merge"
as you are trying to do.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[Sam Watson]

The step I'm struggling with is "keep[ing] it up to date in the normal
way"

Rather than manually change the milestone dates, I want to be able to
load an XML file with 1000 Task entries and have those tasks that have
changed dates to be updated.

Sam

 

[Rob Schneider]

OK. Let's focus on that struggle instead of XML. Your original post
says that the "XMLGenerator grabs the latest [Milestone] dates". From
where are these dates grabbed from? How, logically, to the source of
these dates link with the MPP task names? Have you looked into using
VBA (which might be simpler) to do the matching up?

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

The step I'm struggling with is "keep[ing] it up to date in the normal
way"

Rather than manually change the milestone dates, I want to be able to
load an XML file with 1000 Task entries and have those tasks that have
changed dates to be updated.

Sam

If I'm understanding what you are trying to do ... why don't you have
one MPP file which holds only tasks that are milestones, keep it up to
date in the normal way, and then re-distribute it to the individual
managers as an MPP file for their use, inclusion in sets of
master/submaster collections, etc. Not sure I see the need to "merge"
as you are trying to do.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[Sam Watson]

I'm generating the XML on a linux box querying a MySQL database. I
suppose I can output to any format (perhaps CSV parsing is easy in
Visual Basic) and just do it that way. I was hoping for the easiest
way; I thought that would be XML.

I'll look into working on that solution. Thanks for the tip.

Sam

OK.  Let's focus on that struggle instead ofXML.  Your original post
says that the "XMLGenerator grabs the latest [Milestone] dates".  From
where are these dates grabbed from?  How, logically, to the source of
these dates link with the MPP task names?  Have you looked into using
VBA (which might be simpler) to do the matching up?

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

The step I'm struggling with is "keep[ing] it up to date in the normal
way"

Rather than manually change the milestone dates, I want to be able to
load anXMLfile with 1000 Task entries and have those tasks that have
changed dates to be updated.