Creating Tasks from Data in Excel

[Les H.]

All,

I've done some research within the discussion group and didn't see this
question answered. If it's out there, I apologize in advance.

I consider myself very familiar with Project; however, I've never tapped
it's programming abilities for more than simple macros.

Now, I need some serious programming firepower.

What I need to do is take a spreadsheet that has a list of 500 interfaces to
be built. For each line in the Excel file, I need to create around 8 tasks in
Project. I want these tasks to be specific to the interface being processed.
In other words, I don't want to enter a task called "Build Spec". I want
"INTFC004 - Build Spec".

Can someone point me in the right direction to do this?

Ideally, I need to be able to programmatically indent tasks, format
milestones to be a particular font and color, format external dependencies to
be a specific font and color, etc.

Thanks!

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Les,

Your question actually sounds to me like "I want to learn all about VBA
programming..."

http://www.mvps.org/project/links.htm

has a link to a full scale doc on Project 98 VBA, and that is still valid
for your questions.

The other way around: go into the VB Editor and find the Object Browser
button, and look for the help on:

CreateObject (to link you to Excel)
Tasks Object
Activeproject object
Tasks.Add method
OutlineIndent method
TextStyles

That could (no promise, nothing beats reading to start with!) get you going.
HTH

 

[Les H.]

Thanks, Jan. The Object Browser is a big help. I've also found a couple of
great books.

 

[JackD]

Thanks, Jan. The Object Browser is a big help. I've also found a couple of
great books.

Can you post the names of the great books? I'm not aware of any that treat
this topic in any detail. Thanks!

-Jack

 

[Les H.]

Jack,

The one I will note is "VB & VBA In A Nutshell: The Language" by Paul Lomax
and published by O'Reilly.

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/vbanut/index.html

Published in 1998, it's already six years old, which concerned me, but it
has already helped me get a high-level understanding of VBA. It addresses
the relationship between VB and VBA. I always thought VB was one language and
VBA was another. Not so, according to Mr. Lomax.

It covers VB6, and I noticed that the DLL being referenced - during my help
file searches - was something to the effect of VB6.dll. Well, hold on, I'll
just check.

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VBA\VBA6\VBE6.DLL to be exact.

Whilst I claim no expertise in VBA, the above filename leads me to believe
that the 1998 book is still going to have a lot of helpful content for VBA in
the version of Office I'm using. (Office 2003).

Let me get into the other book(s) and I'll comment on their applicability to
my quest.

Les

 

[JackD]

Jack,

The one I will note is "VB & VBA In A Nutshell: The Language" by Paul Lomax
and published by O'Reilly.

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/vbanut/index.html

Published in 1998, it's already six years old, which concerned me, but it
has already helped me get a high-level understanding of VBA. It addresses
the relationship between VB and VBA. I always thought VB was one language and
VBA was another. Not so, according to Mr. Lomax.

It covers VB6, and I noticed that the DLL being referenced - during my help
file searches - was something to the effect of VB6.dll. Well, hold on, I'll
just check.

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VBA\VBA6\VBE6.DLL to be exact.

Whilst I claim no expertise in VBA, the above filename leads me to believe
that the 1998 book is still going to have a lot of helpful content for VBA in
the version of Office I'm using. (Office 2003).

Let me get into the other book(s) and I'll comment on their applicability to
my quest.

Les

OK, I see you are looking at VB and VBA books. I can see how they would be
helpful, if not essential. However few (maybe none?) of them cover MS
Project objects and methods. For project VBA, the object browser is your
friend as is the macro recorder.

-Jack