Introduction and query

[Ross Thompson]

Hello,

My name is Ross, I just joined the list. I don't know what the
protocol for this list is, but I wanted to introduce myself and ask a
quick question.

Introduction:

I'm Ross. (Oops, I already said that.) I'm a C programmer with > 10
years professional experience who loves to hack in just about
anything. I really love the direction that MrProject is going in,
I've been using it for a little over a year now, and I think the work
that you all have done during that time has been most impressive. I'm
anxious to start helping out if there is a way in which I can
contribute productively.

Question:

One of the problems I have with MrProject is that you cannot
communicate with MsProject very well. As such, the product is well
named, it seems because it mimics a true marriage. However, since I'm
a linux freak and all my coworkers are Microsoft droids, this causes a
problem because any schedule I create in MrProject can't be
communicated efficiently with my management. I've seen some mail
messages in the archives about how support of mpp would be a
great project if someone is interested. So:

- Is that still true?
- Does anyone on this list have specifications for the .mpp format?
- What do I do to claim this territory, so that we can avoid
duplication of effort?
- If someone else is already working on it, who is that person? Do
they need help?

Thanks for any feedback on this. I'd love to contribute in other
ways, but .mpp file support is currently, for selfish reasons, the
thing I'm most interested in working on.

- Roß

---
Immortality is the condition of a dead man who doesn't believe he is
dead. -- H. L. Mencken

[Kurt Maute]

Hi Ross,

I'm Kurt - I maintain the MrProject user guide.

Post by Ross Thompson
One of the problems I have with MrProject is that you cannot
communicate with MsProject very well. As such, the product is well
named, it seems because it mimics a true marriage. However, since I'm
a linux freak and all my coworkers are Microsoft droids, this
causes a
problem because any schedule I create in MrProject can't be
communicated efficiently with my management. I've seen some mail
messages in the archives about how support of mpp would be a
- Is that still true?
- Does anyone on this list have specifications for the .mpp
format?
- What do I do to claim this territory, so that we can avoid
duplication of effort?
- If someone else is already working on it, who is that person?
Do
they need help?
Thanks for any feedback on this. I'd love to contribute in other
ways, but .mpp file support is currently, for selfish reasons, the
thing I'm most interested in working on.
- Ro�

This is a subject that I've given some thought to, since MS Project
is the official tool at my office. I don't know how available the
.mpp file layout is, and my guess is that it will be a pain in the
butt to figure out.

I did notice, though that in MSP 2002, you can save the project in an
xml format. I tried it, and it appears that this format would be far
more simple to convert from/to since the tags tell most of the story.
This looks to me like the path of least resistance, although a
shortcoming is that you would need either the MS Project file owner's
cooperation, or a copy of MSP of your own to do the export to xml.

I don't see the same function in MSP 2000, so another question is
what version of MSP do you want to begin support at?

I'd be willing to help test and stuff, but I have no C programming
skills (which is why I work on the docs).


=====
Kurt Maute
***@yahoo.com

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[Malcolm Tredinnick]

On Mon, Mar 03, 2003 at 01:18:15PM -0800, Kurt Maute wrote:
[...]

Post by Kurt Maute
I did notice, though that in MSP 2002, you can save the project in an
xml format. I tried it, and it appears that this format would be far
more simple to convert from/to since the tags tell most of the story.
This looks to me like the path of least resistance, although a
shortcoming is that you would need either the MS Project file owner's
cooperation, or a copy of MSP of your own to do the export to xml.

There is some support for reading the mpx (MSProject XML) format already
in MrProject. It's in libmrproject/storage-modules/mpx.

Malcolm

[Dale P. Smith]

On Tue, 4 Mar 2003 09:41:00 +1100

Post by Malcolm Tredinnick
[...]

Post by Kurt Maute
I did notice, though that in MSP 2002, you can save the project in an
xml format. I tried it, and it appears that this format would be far
more simple to convert from/to since the tags tell most of the story.
This looks to me like the path of least resistance, although a
shortcoming is that you would need either the MS Project file owner's
cooperation, or a copy of MSP of your own to do the export to xml.

There is some support for reading the mpx (MSProject XML) format already
in MrProject. It's in libmrproject/storage-modules/mpx.

How do you use this?

-Dale

[Ross Thompson]

Post by Malcolm Tredinnick
[...]

Post by Kurt Maute
I did notice, though that in MSP 2002, you can save the project in an
xml format. I tried it, and it appears that this format would be far
more simple to convert from/to since the tags tell most of the story.
This looks to me like the path of least resistance, although a
shortcoming is that you would need either the MS Project file owner's
cooperation, or a copy of MSP of your own to do the export to xml.

I need support for Office 2000. My company does not plan to upgrade
to 2002 any time soon.

Post by Malcolm Tredinnick
There is some support for reading the mpx (MSProject XML) format already
in MrProject. It's in libmrproject/storage-modules/mpx.

I'm sure that's wonderful, but it's not useful to me. What I need to
do is create a schedule in MrProject and then send it to my
management. So, *writing* a format that MsProject can *read* is the
direction I'm interested in.

- Roß

---
Most rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who
can't talk for people who can't read. -- Frank Zappa

[Kurt Maute]

Post by Malcolm Tredinnick
There is some support for reading the mpx (MSProject XML) format already
in MrProject. It's in libmrproject/storage-modules/mpx.

Actually, the xml format that MSP 2002 will write is totally
different from the mpx format (which appears to be primarily comma
delimited rather than xml tags).

The thing is, both MSP 2000 and 2002 will accept the mpx format, but
neither seem to support writing it anymore (unless someone knows a
secret trick to enable it.... anyone??). If this is the case, then
developing an export to mpx format will work for MrP to MSP, but an
mpx import may not be as useful in moving MSP files to MrP.

Of course, Primavera Teamplay will export to mpx format, so there
would still be benefit of an mpx import function for the users of
that tool.

I hope this info helps.


=====
Kurt Maute
***@yahoo.com

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[Ross Thompson]

Post by Kurt Maute

Post by Malcolm Tredinnick
There is some support for reading the mpx (MSProject XML) format already
in MrProject. It's in libmrproject/storage-modules/mpx.

Actually, the xml format that MSP 2002 will write is totally
different from the mpx format (which appears to be primarily comma
delimited rather than xml tags).
The thing is, both MSP 2000 and 2002 will accept the mpx format, but
neither seem to support writing it anymore (unless someone knows a
secret trick to enable it.... anyone??). If this is the case, then
developing an export to mpx format will work for MrP to MSP, but an
mpx import may not be as useful in moving MSP files to MrP.
Of course, Primavera Teamplay will export to mpx format, so there
would still be benefit of an mpx import function for the users of
that tool.
I hope this info helps.
=====
Kurt Maute

Kurt,

That certainly is interesting. My personal need is for MrP -> MsP, so
this would definitely address that.

Does this group have access to mpx file format?

- Roß

---
You can pick out the actors by the glazed look that comes into their
eyes when the conversation wanders away from themselves.
-- Michael Wilding

[Kurt Maute]

Post by Ross Thompson
Does this group have access to mpx file format?
- Ro�

Here's the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/support/kb/articles/q270/1/39.asp

This article also confirms MSP 2000's inability to write the mpx
format.


=====
Kurt Maute
***@yahoo.com

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[Mikael Hallendal]

Post by Ross Thompson
Hello,

Hi!

First of all, sorry for ours (mine and Richards) absence in this thread.
We are currently hacking hard on getting a prerelease of MrProject 0.10
out on Friday.

Post by Ross Thompson
I'm Ross. (Oops, I already said that.) I'm a C programmer with > 10
years professional experience who loves to hack in just about
anything. I really love the direction that MrProject is going in,
I've been using it for a little over a year now, and I think the work
that you all have done during that time has been most impressive. I'm
anxious to start helping out if there is a way in which I can
contribute productively.

This sounds great and thanks for the kind words regarding MrProject.

Post by Ross Thompson
- Is that still true?
- Does anyone on this list have specifications for the .mpp format?
- What do I do to claim this territory, so that we can avoid
duplication of effort?
- If someone else is already working on it, who is that person? Do
they need help?

As what I understand the format in latest MS Project is an MS Access
Database file and we might have luck reading/writing those with the help
of mdb-tools[1]. I haven't had time to confirm this since I haven't had
time and I don't have MS Project to try it out with.

If it is true I'm not sure whether it's true for Microsoft Project 2000
or if it is using a binary format (which I'm pretty sure there is no
documentation on how to read/write).

As for the MPX format brought up in this thread it's currently disabled
since it never got finished and noone has had time to fix it/finish it.

In your case this might be the best way to start, to make writing to MPX
possible in MrProject. Currently only reading parts of MPX-files is
supported.

Post by Ross Thompson
Thanks for any feedback on this. I'd love to contribute in other
ways, but .mpp file support is currently, for selfish reasons, the
thing I'm most interested in working on.

I agree that it would be beautiful if we could support reading/writing
the MS Project files. It's currently not the highest on our priority
list though but if someone wants to dig there hands in the dirt and look
at this we'll do whatever we can to support you.

Regards,
Mikael Hallendal

[1] http://mdbtools.sourceforge.net/