Project Version Comparison

[David]

I'm having a problem with the Project Version comparison tool in Project
Professional 2003. The problem is, that for some project files, the
comparison tool does not work at all, and for some they do work.

My question is:

Are there any requirements in the options of a project file, that needs to
be set in order for this comparison to work?

Thanks for any help,
David

 

[John]

I'm having a problem with the Project Version comparison tool in Project
Professional 2003. The problem is, that for some project files, the
comparison tool does not work at all, and for some they do work.

My question is:

Are there any requirements in the options of a project file, that needs to
be set in order for this comparison to work?

Thanks for any help,
David

David,
I am not aware that the settings in Tools/Options have any effect on the
comparison utility although I have seen some issues with the utility.
The most prevalent issue is using a field more than once in a view. For
example, if the Cost field is shown as column 3 and again as column 6,
the comparison utility will stop with an error midway through the
process.

You mentioned that sometimes the utility works and sometimes it doesn't.
When it doesn't, what happens? If the code is running you should see the
screen flash as it activates the open files and the new comparison file.
If there is no activity at all, does it only occur when attempting to
compare particular files? In other words a little more description than,
"... the comparison tool does not work at all..." might help to figure
out what is going on.

John
Project MVP

 

[David]

John,

I was trying different things, just to see how it would change the outcome.
For certain files, nothing happens at all. When I click the compare versions
button, all that happens is that the screen goes to the project file, Project
version 2, and goes back to the original screen.

I have the same view and table on both schedules, with the standard entry
table open.

The only "apparent" (using the word loosely) difference between working
project files and non working ones, are the names.

Oh yeah, I've also tried copying and pasting the schedule to a new project
file, and editing it. That works, but I'm afraid to do this because I might
lose alot of data on my Project Server and PWA by doing this.

David

 

[John]

John,

I was trying different things, just to see how it would change the outcome.
For certain files, nothing happens at all. When I click the compare versions
button, all that happens is that the screen goes to the project file, Project
version 2, and goes back to the original screen.

I have the same view and table on both schedules, with the standard entry
table open.

The only "apparent" (using the word loosely) difference between working
project files and non working ones, are the names.

Oh yeah, I've also tried copying and pasting the schedule to a new project
file, and editing it. That works, but I'm afraid to do this because I might
lose alot of data on my Project Server and PWA by doing this.

David

David,
You said something about the names affecting whether the compare works
or not. What about the names? Can you be more specific?

Also, tell me more about the copy/paste/edit process you tried. Are you
doing the editing just to create some differences for the compare?

I have no expertise with Server or PWA. If those are relevant to what is
causing your problem I won't be able to help. However, until I've run
out of other ideas, let's see what we can do.

John
Project MVP

 

[David]

John,

The naming was not an issue. I tested this out. The copy and past method I
used, was simply copying all the tasks from the "non working" schedule to a
new project and saving it. I then made modifications and saved as another
file. The compare function worked this way.

David

 

[John]

John,

The naming was not an issue. I tested this out. The copy and past method I
used, was simply copying all the tasks from the "non working" schedule to a
new project and saving it. I then made modifications and saved as another
file. The compare function worked this way.

David

David,
Strange. The next thing I would try is to take the "non-working" file
and saving it under a new name so it can be used as a test bed. First
check to see that the new file still "fails" when attempting to use the
Compare Projects utility. Once you have a test file, try paring it down,
perhaps by deleting half the tasks and see if "size matters". If you can
still see the problem with a smaller file it may be easier to
troubleshoot, although a few months ago another user sent me a file that
was about 5 lines total and it failed when we tried to run the compare.
Unfortunately we never did find a suitable answer to his problem.

Keep me posted.
John

 

[David]

John,

I actually tried that before. The schedule is about 500 lines, and I
reduced it to about 50. Did the same test scenarios: naming, global
template, file properties, looked at all properties. Still no success.

David

 

[John]

John,

I actually tried that before. The schedule is about 500 lines, and I
reduced it to about 50. Did the same test scenarios: naming, global
template, file properties, looked at all properties. Still no success.

David

David,
I assume by "no success" you mean a reduced task file still will not
work when attempting to use the compare utility, or did I misunderstand?

Here is something else to look at. The compare utility uses the Unique
ID field to index through the tasks in each of the files being compared.
In the files that won't compare, is there anything irregular or unusual
about the Unique ID?

By the way, I assume the files you are comparing are NOT master files
with inserted subprojects.

If there is nothing unusual with the Unique IDs would it be possible to
send me the files? Years ago I wrote my own file compare macro. I could
try your files using my code. If you can send the files, be sure to zip
them first.

John

 

[David]

John,

There's nothing unusual about the unique IDs, other than that they're out of
order. I'm assuming that project assigns them as you add new tasks to the
project.

There are no subprojects, theres is only one file, with no external links.
I can not send these file, being that they are proprietary. I will change
the tasks names.

Please provide me with your email, so that I can send it to you.

David