Create MS Project Files Programmatically using Java

Create MS Project Files in Java

MS Project is a well-known project management application that makes it easier for managers to perform project management activities efficiently. The project managers can create tasks, add resources, and assign tasks to the resources within a particular project. Furthermore, they can define the timeline as well as perform budget management operations. However, there could be various scenarios when managers need to customize project management operations. Also, an organization may need to automate project management within web or desktop applications.

For such cases, this article covers how to perform the basic project management operations programmatically. Particularly, you will learn how to create projects from scratch, add tasks and resources, and work with resource assignments and calendars using Java.

Java Project Management API

Aspose.Tasks for Java is a project management API that lets you create MS Project files from scratch. Furthermore, you can manipulate an existing project in order to add some modifications. The API lets you perform basic as well as advanced project management operations seamlessly. Aspose.Tasks for Java can be downloaded as JAR or installed within Maven-based applications using the following configurations.

<repository>
    <id>AsposeJavaAPI</id>
    <name>Aspose Java API</name>
    <url>http://repository.aspose.com/repo/</url>
</repository>
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.aspose</groupId>
    <artifactId>aspose-tasks</artifactId>
    <version>20.12</version>
    <classifier>jdk18</classifier>
</dependency>

Create an MS Project File using Java

MS Project allows you to save the project-related data in either MPP or XML format. So let’s start with creating an empty project file by following the below steps.

The following code samples show how to create an MS Project (.mpp and .xml) file using Java.

Save MS Project Files as MPP

Save MS Project Files as XML

Learn more about the project manipulation features: Working with Projects

Add Tasks to a Project using Java

After creating the project file, you can start adding the tasks to it. The following are the steps to create and add tasks to a project file.

The following code sample shows how to add tasks to a project using C#.

Learn more about task manipulation features: Working with Tasks

Add Resources to a Project using Java

The next important thing in a project is the resources that will be assigned to perform the tasks. So in this section, we’ll add some resources to the project. The following are the steps to add resources to the project.

The following code sample shows how to add resources in a project using Java.

Learn more about resource manipulation features: Working with Resources

Assign Tasks to Resources in a Project using Java

Once you have added the tasks and resources, the next thing is to assign the tasks to the relevant resources. The following are the steps to perform resource assignments in a project.

The following code sample shows how to create resource assignments in a project using Java.

Learn more about resource assignment features: Working with Resource Assignments

Add Calendars to a Project using Java

Calendars are another important entity that is used to define the timeline of a project. Using the calendar, you can create a complete schedule for a project. In order to create a calendar, you can follow the below steps:

The following code sample shows how to create calendar in a project using Java.

Learn more about calendar features: Working with Calendars

Get a Free License

You can get a free temporary license in order to try the API without evaluation limitations.

Conclusion

In this article, you have learned some basic features of how to create MS Project files from scratch using Java. Particularly, you have seen how to add tasks, resources, resource assignments, and calendars in a project. You can explore more about the Java MS Project API using documentation.

See Also