December, 2007

You launch the My Tasks page in Project Server 2007 and you see these colored lines next to your tasks.  The first thing that comes to mind is what do they mean? 

Below is the key to these colors.  Please bear in mind that these colors are meant as guidance and are subject to the influence of pending approvals and updates. 

• Green - This indicates a New Task
• Yellow/Orange - This task will be due soon.  Orange will be due sooner than Yellow
• Red - Overdue/Past the due date.

Lastly, a pink background on the finish date denotes that it is past today's date. 

As I am leaving for vacation, this will be the last post until next year.  To end the year on the correct note, something to make you laugh...

(This is courtesy of the Office Offline Web Comic blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/officeoffline/archive/2007/10/26/naughty-by-nature.aspx)

 See you next year.

The December update of the Project 2007 SDK download and the MSDN online release are now live. This is the third SDK update published since the RTM release of the SDK in November 2006. The first update was published in April and the second in July, 2007.

Project Developer Portal: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905469.aspx

SDK Online:  Project 2007 SDK in MSDN online library: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms512767.aspx

SDK Download:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2672F6F9-7028-4B30-99A2-18CB1EED1ABE&displaylang=en

What's New

In addition to several documentation bug fixes, the following content is new or extensively updated.

Articles:

· ERP Connector Solution Starter (20 topics)

· How to: Customize E-Mail for Project Server Notifications  - this is an update of the project_programmability blog post.

· Project XML Data Interchange Schema Reference includes the following topics:

· New XML Elements

· Custom Field Data in XML

· Saving and Opening Projects in XML Format

· How to: Use XSLT Transformations with Project XML Data Interchange Files

· Project Data Interchange Elements includes reference topics for all of the schema sections, XML structure, and XML elements.

PSI Managed Code Reference:

· Additional descriptions of row properties in the following datasets in the Project Server Interface (PSI): LookupTableDataSet, LookupTableMultiLangDataSet, AlertSubscriptionInfoDataSet, ReminderSubscriptionInfoDataSet, QueueStatusDataSet, QueueStatusRequestDataSet, StatusingSettingsDataSet.

· Additional descriptions for event receiver methods.

Download:

· ERP Connector:   Complete sample source code and test application for the ERP Connector.

· XML Schema:  Revised XML data interchange schema, mspdi_pj12.xsd.
Note: The Project XML schema is also now published on http://schemas.microsoft.com/project/2007.

· ProjTool:   Now includes a dialog box for backup and restore of selected projects.

· SP1 library assembly: Redistribution license for the SP1 build of the Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Library.dll assembly, and 32- and 64-bit copies of the assembly.
Note:  The MSIL code of the assembly is the same in both cases, so the file size is the same. However, we provide both builds to be consistent with the Project 2007 SKUs and because there may be differences in the future.

I am excited to announce that Project 2007 SP1 has been released.

Links to downloads:

• Client Download Link
• Server Download Link (the Project Server patches are rolled into a single Office Server patch)
• Project Language Packs
• WSS 3.0 SP1 Download Link

Helpful Information:

• For a list of client fixes see: Knowledge Base article 942386
• For a list of server fixes see: Knowledge Base article 942387
• Article on deploying updates for Project Server 2007 

We've heard requests from some users that they want the Project Summary Task to be on by default.  Currently in Project, you can turn this on but it is a per-project setting and not an application setting.  (To turn this on go to Tools - Options - View tab)  To turn it on by default for all new projects you have to edit the registry.

Steps:
1.    Go to Start - Run and type regedit.
2.    Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\MS Project\Options\View
3.    Right-click on View and go to New - DWORD Value
4.    Set the name to Show Project Summary
5.    Click off Show Project Summary
6.    Double-click on Show Project Summary
7.    Set the value to 1.  Your registry should now look like the picture below and new projects will now have the project summary task displayed by default.

Notes:
-    This will only turn the project summary task on for new projects, existing projects won't be affected.
-    If you no longer want this on by default, you can either set the value to 0 or just delete the regkey.
-    This will only work for Project 2007.
-    This is a user setting not a machine setting.