Archive for August, 2007
New Add-In for Project 2007 - Import tasks from Excel
29 August 2007From Jim Corbin. The technical article Importing Project 2007 Tasks from Excel Using a Managed Code Add-In is now published on MSDN. There is an associated download that includes the complete C# and VB.NET code, using Visual Studio 2008 (Beta 2) with Visual Studio Tools for Office.
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Official Holiday
21 August 2007I am on My official leave which is started from 13th of August 2007 and will last for 2nd September 2007 (hopefully). If anyone needs help or guidance during this time in terms of projects and training’s please feel free to contact me.
Jerry
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Take care when loading an Office Server 2007 Language packs if you use Project Server 2007
21 August 2007The download page for language packs at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2447426b-8689-4768-bff0-cbb511599a45&DisplayLang=en allows you to load language packs for many languages on top of your native installed language. For SharePoint this allows you to create sites in different languages. In Project these language packs do what the Multi-Language User Interface (MUI) did for 2003 and before - so two users can see the same PWA site in different languages, based on their IE language preference.
The download page however does not distinguish which languages will and will not work for Project Server 2007 - as only a sub-set of the Office ones are supported. The download page also just has a link for the SharePoint deployment page and not the Project Server one which can be found at http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/65b96c9d-67e1-4e5b-9119-62f7ff6b83861033.mspx?mfr=true. The main difference is that for Project you need to install the language pack on your application servers as well as the web front ends. Load and run the configuration wizard on each server in your farm.
The languages supported by Project Server 2007 are listed on the page linked to above - but more importantly the ones SharePoint supports but Project Server 2007 DOES NOT support are:-
Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Estonian, Hindi, Latvian, Lithuanian, Portuguese – Portugal, (Portuguese – Brazil is supported), Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Thai, Ukrainian.
If you install these then the propagation of other MUI languages may be affected and you may not be able to see languages you expect to, and you will get many errors in your application event log referring to a file - notifications.sql - which cannot be found for these languages.
I will do another post soon (vacation next week!) on the use of language packs both on the client and the server, but just as a taster 2007 handles this much better than 2003. This week I worked on a project on a Korean version of Project Professional 2007 (US English plus Korean language pack for the project client) and created tasks in English, Korean, Japanese and with various European accents, then saved to my US version of server which had many of the language packs installed. I then changed my client language to Greek, re-opened the project and could see everything I had saved. After publishing I could even view my PWA site in Danish and view my project along with the tasks in the different languages. What? Next you want us to translate the tasks? One day…
Technorati Tags: Project Server 2007
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Microsoft EPM (Enterprise Project Management) Solution Support and Reference Links
21 August 2007
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Office 2.0 Conference and the Project Conference
21 August 2007I will be taking part in a panel discussion at the Office 2.0 conference dealing with project management and how it is impacted by collaborative software. It will be held on Thursday, September 6th, 2007. I’m pretty excited about it. Panels are always fun. It is great to hear real professionals talk candidly about their views on any subject. This subject though will be even more interesting because it has so much to do with the core of a big area that companies are really getting serious about: improving how they scope, plan, track, and perform their work, whether they call them tasks, projects, programs or whatever.
I will also be delivering a best practices session at the Project Conference in late October (the exact schedule of where my session falls is not final yet.) I will be speaking about best practices around resource demand management using Project Server 2007. The Project Conference is always a good time. Meeting customers and other field professionals is always a learning experience. Seeing how other organizations are working with the tool is the best way to improve your own skills in the field.
If any readers of this site will be at either of these conferences please look me up and say hello. It would be great to talk to you!
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Working with the Custom Fields Data Table
21 August 2007There have been a number of inquiries with regards to the custom field column definitions. So here they are:
MD_AGGREGATION_TYPE_ENUM: Specifies the roll up type for a custom field.
MD_ENT_TYPE_UID: Specifies the type of entity (project, task, or resource) for the custom field.
MD_LOOKUP_TABLE_UID: Specifies the GUID of the lookup table to use for the custom field.
MD_PROP_CHECKOUTBY: GUID of the user who has the custom field checked out for modification.
MD_PROP_CHECKOUTDATE: Date the custom field was checked out for modification.
MD_PROP_DEFAULT_VALUE: GUID of the default value in a lookup table for a custom field.
MD_PROP_FORMULA: Formula that calculates the value of a custom field.
MD_PROP_GRAPHICAL_INDICATOR: Definition of a graphical indicator for a custom field.
MD_PROP_GRAPHICAL_INDICATOR_TOOLTIP: Specifies whether the graphical indicator has a tool tip.
MD_PROP_ID: Integer ID of the enterprise custom field.
MD_PROP_ID_SECONDARY: Assignment custom field ID for resource and task custom fields.
MD_PROP_IS_LEAF_NODE_ONLY: Specifies whether the custom field value must be a leaf node in the lookup table.
MD_PROP_IS_REQUIRED: Specifies whether the custom field is required when the entity (project, resource, or task) is created.
MD_PROP_MAX_VALUES: Specifies whether the custom field has a single value or uses a multi-value lookup table.
MD_PROP_NAME: Name of the custom field.
MD_PROP_PROJ_SUMM_GRAPHICAL_INDICATOR: Definition of the project summary graphical indicator for the custom field.
MD_PROP_ROLLDOWN_TO_ASSN: Specifies whether the resource or task custom field rolls down to assignments.
MD_PROP_SUMM_GRAPHICAL_INDICATOR: Definition of the custom field graphical indicator for the summary task.
MD_PROP_TYPE_ENUM: Type of the custom field.
MD_PROP_UID: GUID of the custom field.
MD_PROP_UID_SECONDARY: Assignment custom field GUID for resource and task custom fields.
MD_PROP_USE_FOR_MATCHING: Specifies whether to use the resource custom field for matching generic resources.
Chris Boyd
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Error message when you try to access tasks programmatically in Project 2007: “Run-time error ‘438′”
16 August 2007
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Project 2007 takes longer than expected to add new values to a lookup table
16 August 2007
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Description of the Project 2007 hotfix package: June 17, 2007
16 August 2007
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Hacking PWA with SimpleUI
13 August 2007
As with Project Web Access (PWA) 2003, PWA 2007 offers a little-known, yet surprisingly simple way to hack the interface through the web browser’s address bar… using a parameter called SimpleUI.
Because the latest-and-greatest Project Web Access (PWA) interface included with Project Server 2007 is now built upon the new Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 technology, we now have nearly limitless options for customizing the web interface… either through custom programming or configuration directly through the web browser. If you’ve been granted the appropriate level of permissions, then you can simply crack open PWA 2007 in your web browser, flip a page such as the PWA Home page into "edit mode", then add, remove, or rearrange page content through the use of SharePoint webparts.
However, if we want to modify the non-content parts of the page, such as the header or left-side (Quicklaunch) navigation, then our job can become a bit more difficult. Unless we’re familiar with building & editing ASP.NET Master Pages with SharePoint Designer or Visual Studio, then we might think that we’re basically stuck with the hand that we’ve been dealt. Enter SimpleUI.
Getting Started with SimpleUI
SimpleUI is a parameter which can be added to the address of any PWA page, and it’s basically used for toggling the main non-content pieces of the page:
Following are the four sections of the PWA page layout which can be toggled on & off:
1. The Breadcrumb & Welcome bar:
2. The Title & Search bar:
3. The Top Link & Site Actions bar:
4. The Quicklaunch menu:
Let’s now take a quick look at how to use the SimpleUI parameter to hack the PWA interface…
1. Add "?SimpleUI=1" to the PWA URL to turn off the Breadcrumb & Welcome bar.
For example, if we’re at the PWA Home page, add "?SimpleUI=1" to the end of the URL, resulting in http://vpc01/PWA/default.aspx?SimpleUI=1:
Notice that the Breadcrumb & Welcome bar is now hidden. To un-hide the bar, replace "?SimpleUI=1" with "?SimpleUI=0":
2. Add "?SimpleUI=2" to the PWA URL to turn off the Title & Search bar.
For example, if we’re at the PWA Home page, add "?SimpleUI=2" to the end of the URL, resulting in http://vpc01/PWA/default.aspx?SimpleUI=2:
Notice that the Title & Search bar is now hidden. To un-hide the bar, replace "?SimpleUI=2" with "?SimpleUI=0".
3. Add "?SimpleUI=4" to the PWA URL to turn off the Top Link & Site Actions bar.
For example, if we’re at the PWA Home page, add "?SimpleUI=4" to the end of the URL, resulting in http://vpc01/PWA/default.aspx?SimpleUI=4:
Notice that the Top Link & Site Actions bar is now hidden. To un-hide the bar, replace "?SimpleUI=4" with "?SimpleUI=0".
4. Add "?SimpleUI=8" to the PWA URL to turn off the Quicklaunch menu.
For example, if we’re at the PWA Home page, add "?SimpleUI=8" to the end of the URL, resulting in http://vpc01/PWA/default.aspx?SimpleUI=8:
Notice that the Quicklaunch menu is now hidden. To un-hide the menu, replace "?SimpleUI=8" with "?SimpleUI=0".
Notice that when we turn off one of these four areas of the page, the setting remains, even when we visit other pages within PWA:
Once again, to reverse the setting, simply add "?SimpleUI=0" to the end of the web address:
Getting Tricky: Combining SimpleUI Parameters
Want to toggle more than one of the four areas at the same time? No problem… simply add the desired parameters together. For example, if we’d like to turn off the Breadcrumb & Welcome bar (SimpleUI=1) as well as the Top Link & Site Actions bar (SimpleUI=4), we’ll add the numbers together (1+4=5) to create the parameter to add to the address:
http://vpc01/PWA/default.aspx?SimpleUI=5
Wanna turn off all four? Use "?SimpleUI=15":
Why Use SimpleUI?
Anyone can do it!
Anyone can add the SimpleUI parameter to the PWA address bar, regardless of the permissions that they’ve been granted in Project Server (you don’t need to be an Administrator).
No programming required!
Because the SimpleUI hack only requires a little bit of simple math and access to the web browser’s address bar, no programming knowledge or fancy programming tools are required.
Reclaim some screen real estate!
For those of us who don’t have 45" monitors with 16,000 x 12,000 pixel resolution, scrolling is an essential part of life. SimpleUI helps to reclaim some of that precious screen real estate to cut down the scrolling required when viewing large data views.
Get a bigger view of the Project Center. Nice!
Next time, we’ll look at an easy way to add a "Show / Hide" function to nearly any PWA page for toggling the fluff and reclaiming some of that precious real estate.
In the meantime, play around with SimpleUI and have some fun!
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