ResourceAssignements - Differences between MsProject and Aspose (planned work dates)

Aspose.Tasks Product Family
1

Hi !


I’m currently testing aspose.tasks for one of my project and I encountered a strange problem…

In msproject, I define a task with the following properties :

  • Work : 20 hours
  • Duration : 3 days
  • Start : 11/03/2016
  • End : 16/03/2016
  • Resource : Michael (20 hours)

In my resource usage view I defined when the task must be done :

- Friday 11/03 : 8hours
- Monday 14/03 : 4hours
- Monday 15/03 : 8hours


If I try to get the resourceassignments in Aspose :

project.ResourceAssignments.ToList()[0].TimephasedData

it returns 5 items :

- 11/03 to 12/03 : 0 hours
- 12/03 to 13/03 : 0 hours
- 13/03 to 14/03 : 8 hours
- 14/03 to 15/03 : 4 hours
- 15/03 to 15/03 : 8 hours

It has been shifted to the 13/03 ?!

I’ve made more tests and it appears that it only occurs when the task starts on a FRIDAY.
Maybe it’s caused by the calendar definition ?

Thanks for your help.


2

Hi Michael,

Thank you for writing to Aspose Support team.

Could you please share your sample project file with us for our investigation? We’ll analyze it for the mentioned issues and assist you further in this regard.

3

Thanks for your answer.


Here is the file
4

Hi Michael,

This SimpleTask.mpp file is converted to XML using Microsoft Project 2010 and opened in browser. Here we can see that the timephase data is exactly same as read by Aspose.Tasks. Please have a look at the attached image showing comparison of XML file and timephase data displayed by Aspose.Tasks using following code:

String path = url + "Tasks_699078";
Project proj = new Project(path + "SimpleTask.mpp");
ResourceAssignmentCollection coll = proj.ResourceAssignments;
foreach(ResourceAssignment assn in coll)
{
    foreach(TimephasedData td in assn.TimephasedData)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(td.Start + "," + td.Finish + "," + td.ValueToDuration.TotalHours);
    }
}
5

I’ve tried your example, and here what is printed :


11-Mar-00 8:00:00 AM,12-Mar-00 8:00:00 AM,0
12-Mar-00 8:00:00 AM,13-Mar-00 8:00:00 AM,0
13-Mar-00 8:00:00 AM,14-Mar-00 8:00:00 AM,8
14-Mar-00 8:00:00 AM,15-Mar-00 8:00:00 AM,4
15-Mar-00 8:00:00 AM,15-Mar-00 5:00:00 PM,8


It seems that the year returned by Aspose is “2000” and not “2016”.

6

Hi Michael,

It seems that you are not using valid license in the code. It is a limitation of trial version that dates are set to year 2000. Please get a temporary license to test features without any limitation.

7

Ho ! Thanks for the answer, I will try with a temporary license.


Just a last question (a bit off-topic), the documentation is still up to date ?

I’ve found this :

Reading Tasks and Resources

to read the resource name, but the property name doesn’t exists anymore in the resource class ?

I’ve checked the technical doc, no trace of it :

Aspose API References

Edit : Ok, sorry I found it by testing : resource.Get(Rsc.Name)


8

It work with a temp. license ! thanks !


But I still encounters some errors…

When reading timephaseddata on a resourceassigment, it doesn’t take into account the calendar. E.g :

If I have a specific calendar that set the 05 may as a non-working day, Msproject show me the column in red and doesn’t set any work for this day.

If I retrieve resourceassignement from Aspose, a value has been set for this day.


9

Hi Michael,


Thank you for pointing out the documentation article. Its updated now.

I have tested the scenario by setting a calendar exception on Mar 15, 2016 and retrieved the timephase data using above mentioned code. It is observed that the calendar exception was considered and no activity is shown on that day. Snapshot of the program output is attached here for you reference.

Could you please test it and share the feedback? If issue is not resolved, please send us the updated MPP file having this calendar exception and complete project to re-produce issue here.
10

I’ve found the source of the issue.


The structure of my projects are the following :

* Resource pool (no tasks)
* Project 1
* Project 2

If I read the resource pool by using MsProject, the resource usage view display an aggregate view of all linked projects, including calendar exceptions.

If I read the same resource pool by using Aspose, no assignements is returned. But If I read all projects files (1 & 2), I can consolidate a view by aggregating data but calendar is ignored (as it has been defined in resource pool).

Could you tell me if there is a way to get the aggregated resource usage view ? (the same way msproject display it by opening the resource pool)

Thanks !
11

Hi Michael,


Thank you for providing detailed information. We are discussing this issue with the product team and request you to spare us little time to finalize the analysis. I will write back here as soon as some feedback is received in this regard.
12

Thanks, I’m looking forward for your answer.



13

Hi Michael,


We have discussed it thoroughly and would like to share that at present we do not support Resource Pools, neither reading nor rendering. I am afraid the only way to get the desired result is to assign necessary calendar to a resource manually.

Should you have any other query in this regard, please feel free to write us back.