[2007] A non-selectable and disappearing enterprise custom fields

P

Pawel

Hi,

I run across a next problem with enterprise custom fields (that we use quite
extensively, although not in a very sophisticated manner).
Each of our tasks has a number of text enterprise custom fields assigned,
defined in PWA and linked to a corresponding lookup table. Most of these
lookup tables are in a form of a tree (e.g. a *.*.* code mask). All of the
fields are required and normally have a "roll-down" flag switched on and "no
subordinate values" also o.

My problem is, that my project managers often complain that when assigning a
task with an appropriate code in Project Professional, the drop-down list
does not contain all the values defined in PWA (and visible e.g. in
defininition of activities). What is even stranger, usually after a couple of
seconds these values reappear, but then they are normally not selectable
(meaning: one can select the value, but after exiting the field it gets
automagically cleared and is empty again).
I am pretty sure that both these effects are correlated, and the
"auto-clearing" fields are exactly those that did not show up in the first
place (the other ones can be selected and work fine).
As far as I can see the effect is deterministic or quasi-deterministic; it
seems that if it happens, it applies to all the PJMs in the organization,
regardless of the instance of Project Professional they use.

It is still possible to type-in the code directly (as a text) in the
"naughty" field (although one of the PJMs reported that after saving and
publishing the project and then re-opening it the changes were gone. I did
not yet verify that report yet however, so maybee that was some kind of
manual error).

I used to think that it is a problem of local cache, but obviously it is not
(as written above). Cleaning the project cache on the client machines does
not seem to help (it is norally empty anyway each time I check).

Does anyone have any clue what kind of problem I am facing and how I can fix
it?
 
P

Pawel

Hi Gary,

The only I know - in Project Prof. we select "Tools\Local Project
Cache\Cleanup Cache". Usually we have nothing on the project list (neither
"checked" nor "not checked"), so we just click "close", hoping that something
will clean-up anyway (usually there is _something_ in the cache, as the
dialog shows e.g. "total size of global items" = 0.28 MB).

BTW, for some time a solution for the problem (although for me it was pure
magic in a style of that old joke of "let's leave the car and get in again,
maybe it will start") was to force PJMs to open their projects always through
PWA (never select them from the ProjPro MRU list). That helped always for a
some time, but now it seems the trick does not work anymore (perhaps it was
just a coincidence of some kind).

Thanks!

Pawel
 
C

crook

If I may add to the discussion, the following workaround was
successful for me.

Entered by Stewbob on 2/19/2007

It appears that the Project Professional cache has been getting
corrupted.
Removing the .mpc files from each client workstation seems to do the
trick.


In your system where project professional 2007 is installed,
go to
c:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Microsoft\MS
Project\Cache\<cacheGUID>. Delete the "global[n].mpc" files (where n equals
an integer value). You have to perform this when you are not using Project
Professional.
2. If multiple users use the same system and have multiple profiles in
Documents and Settings folder, follow the above step for each profile.
3. Launch project professional and use the Ent. Custom fields.


This fix resolved the issue for all the machines it has been applied
to in our environment.
Note: Clearing the Cache through Project Pro 2007 did not help.
Manually removing the .mpc files was the only way we found to clear
this problem.

HTH,
Crook
 
G

Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]

Crook:

Reread my post. Your solution is the same, just a little more difficult to
execute. Thanks for sharing.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
MSProjectExperts
For Project Server Consulting: http://www.msprojectexperts.com
For Project Server FAQS: http://www.projectserverexperts.com


crook said:
If I may add to the discussion, the following workaround was
successful for me.

Entered by Stewbob on 2/19/2007

It appears that the Project Professional cache has been getting
corrupted.
Removing the .mpc files from each client workstation seems to do the
trick.


In your system where project professional 2007 is installed,
go to
c:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Microsoft\MS
Project\Cache\<cacheGUID>. Delete the "global[n].mpc" files (where n
equals
an integer value). You have to perform this when you are not using
Project
Professional.
2. If multiple users use the same system and have multiple profiles in
Documents and Settings folder, follow the above step for each profile.
3. Launch project professional and use the Ent. Custom fields.


This fix resolved the issue for all the machines it has been applied
to in our environment.
Note: Clearing the Cache through Project Pro 2007 did not help.
Manually removing the .mpc files was the only way we found to clear
this problem.

HTH,
Crook
 

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