MPXJ.Net 12.10.0-beta.3

MPXJ.Net

MPXJ is a Java library which allows a variety of schedule file formats and databases to be read and written. This NuGet package uses IKVM to translate the Java library into a .Net assembly and provides a C# wrapper around this translated assembly. This means that your interactions with MPXJ will use C# data types and data structures working with objects with expose properties using typical C# naming conventions. You do not need to work with Java data types, data structures and so on.

Note that the translation of the original Java version of MPXJ into a .Net assembly happens at build time. The first time you add a reference to MPXJ.Net to your project you will notice that your project will take longer to build and you may see some transient warning messages. The messages can be ignored, and your build time will return to normal after the first build as the results of the translation are cached.

The API exposed by MPXJ.Net follows very closely the original Java API, for which you kind find details in the Javadocs, and more general documentation on the MPXJ website. The main differences between the original Java API and the API exposed by this assembly are that getter and setter methods have been replace by properties, all classes you need to work with are in the MPXJ.Net namespace, rather than being spread across a number of Java packages, and finally properties and method names follow C# naming conventions rather than Java naming conventions.

After installing this package you can perform simple tasks like converting a file from one format to another:

using MPXJ.Net;

var project = new UniversalProjectReader().Read("example.mpp");
new UniversalProjectWriter(FileFormat.MPX).Write(project, "example.mpx");

Or you can interact directly with the object model exposed by MPXJ to extract data:

using MPXJ.Net;

var project = new UniversalProjectReader().Read("example.mpp");

System.Console.WriteLine("Tasks");
foreach (var task in project.Tasks)
{
    System.Console.WriteLine($"{task.ID}\t{task.Name}");
}   

Or finally you can generate your own schedule:

using MPXJ.Net;

// In the example below we'll be generating an MSPDI
// file which we can import into Microsoft Project.
var filename = "example.xml";
var fileformat = FileFormat.MSPDI;

// Create a ProjectFile instance
var file = new ProjectFile();

// Add a default calendar called "Standard"
var calendar = file.AddDefaultBaseCalendar();

// Add a holiday to the calendar to demonstrate calendar exceptions
calendar.AddCalendarException(DateOnly.Parse("2006-03-13"), DateOnly.Parse("2006-03-13"));

// Retrieve the project properties and set the start date. Note Microsoft
// Project appears to reset all task dates relative to this date, so this
// date must match the start date of the earliest task for you to see
// the expected results. If this value is not set, it will default to
// today's date.
var properties = file.ProjectProperties;
properties.StartDate = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-01 08:00");

// Set a couple more properties just for fun
properties.ProjectTitle = "Created by MPXJ";
properties.Author = "Jon Iles";

// Let's create an alias for TEXT1
var customFields = file.CustomFields;
var field = customFields.GetOrCreate(TaskField.Text1);
field.Alias = "My Custom Field";

// Add resources
var resource1 = file.AddResource();
resource1.Name = "Resource1";

var resource2 = file.AddResource();
resource2.Name = "Resource2";
resource2.Availability.Add(new Availability(DateTimeHelper.StartDateNA, DateTimeHelper.EndDateNA, 50));

// Create a summary task
var task1 = file.AddTask();
task1.Name = "Summary Task";

// Create the first sub task
var task2 = task1.AddTask();
task2.Name = "First Sub Task";
task2.Duration = Duration.GetInstance(10.5, TimeUnit.Days);
task2.Start = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-01 08:00");
task2.SetText(1, "My Custom Value 1");

// We'll set this task up as being 50% complete. If we have no resource
// assignments for this task, this is enough information for MS Project.
// If we do have resource assignments, the assignment record needs to
// contain the corresponding work and actual work fields set to the
// correct values in order for MS project to mark the task as complete
// or partially complete.
task2.PercentageComplete = 50.0;
task2.ActualStart = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-01 08:00");

// Create the second sub task
var task3 = task1.AddTask();
task3.Name = "Second Sub Task";
task3.Start = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-11 08:00");
task3.Duration = Duration.GetInstance(10, TimeUnit.Days);
task3.SetText(1, "My Custom Value 2");

// Link these two tasks
task3.AddPredecessor(new Relation.Builder(file).TargetTask(task2).Type(RelationType.FinishStart));

// Add a milestone
var milestone1 = task1.AddTask();
milestone1.Name = "Milestone";
milestone1.Start = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-21 08:00");
milestone1.Duration = Duration.GetInstance(0, TimeUnit.Days);
milestone1.AddPredecessor(new Relation.Builder(file).TargetTask(task3).Type(RelationType.FinishStart));

// This final task has a percent complete value, but no
// resource assignments. This is an interesting case it it requires
// special processing to generate the MSPDI file correctly.
var task4 = file.AddTask();
task4.Name = "Next Task";
task4.Duration = Duration.GetInstance(8, TimeUnit.Days);
task4.Start= DateTime.Parse("2003-01-01 08:00");
task4.PercentageComplete = 70;
task4.ActualStart = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-01 08:00");

// Assign resources to tasks
var assignment1 = task2.AddResourceAssignment(resource1);
var assignment2 = task3.AddResourceAssignment(resource2);

// As the first task is partially complete, and we are adding
// a resource assignment, we must set the work and actual work
// fields in the assignment to appropriate values, or MS Project
// won't recognise the task as being complete or partially complete
assignment1.Work = Duration.GetInstance(80, TimeUnit.Hours);
assignment1.ActualWork = Duration.GetInstance(40, TimeUnit.Hours);

// If we were just generating an MPX file, we would already have enough
// attributes set to create the file correctly. If we want to generate
// an MSPDI file, we must also set the assignment start dates and
// the remaining work attribute. The assignment start dates will normally
// be the same as the task start dates.
assignment1.RemainingWork = Duration.GetInstance(40, TimeUnit.Hours);
assignment2.RemainingWork = Duration.GetInstance(80, TimeUnit.Hours);
assignment1.Start = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-01 08:00");
assignment2.Start = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-11 08:00");

// Write a 100% complete task
var task5 = file.AddTask();
task5.Name = "Last Task";
task5.Duration = Duration.GetInstance(3, TimeUnit.Days);
task5.Start = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-01 08:00");
task5.PercentageComplete = 100;
task5.ActualStart = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-01 08:00");

// Write a 100% complete milestone
var task6 = file.AddTask();
task6.Name = "Last Milestone";
task6.Duration = Duration.GetInstance(0, TimeUnit.Days);
task6.Start = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-01 08:00");
task6.PercentageComplete = 100.0;
task6.ActualStart = DateTime.Parse("2003-01-01 08:00");

// Write the file
new UniversalProjectWriter(fileformat).Write(file, filename);