What is an MPP file?

[Nock]

Just a quick one, what is an MPP file? (besides being the file extension for
a MS Project file...)

Is it a MS project in compact database form? And if so, is a view just a
query against 'the database'?

I'm using Project Server 2003!

Many thanks in advance!

Nock

 

[Rod Gill]

..MPP is a proprietary binary file format. There is no documentation for
reading or creating one. In Project Server all projects are stored in SQL
Server. You can save locally in a .mpp file format, but can only access it
via Project itself or OLEDB.

 

[Nock]

Thanks Rod - I suppose what I was really asking is 'when you click on a view
within Project Professional 2003' eg. the Resource Usage or Tracking Gannt,
am I really just performing a query against 'a database'?

ie. Is the MPP file an smaller extract of a particular set of MS SQL
database tables and attributes?

Thankyou for all you help.

Nock

 

[Rod Gill]

In essence: No. The mpp file is a binary store. When you open a project all
the data is loaded into memory so when you select a view the data displays
from memory. That's why Project was so much faster than some of the early
competitors which kept data in databases: a load from memory is much faster
than a load from a db.

 

[Nock]

Many thanks Rod.

In essence: No. The mpp file is a binary store. When you open a project all
the data is loaded into memory so when you select a view the data displays
from memory. That's why Project was so much faster than some of the early
competitors which kept data in databases: a load from memory is much faster
than a load from a db.

--

Rod Gill
Project MVP
Visit www.msproject-systems.com for Project Companion Tools and more