Some (very) newbie questions about MS Project

[B. Chernick]

I'm in the very early stages of establishing requirements for a new project
(A software project, not a Project project). I'm a .Net programmer. All I
know about MS Project is what I got from a brief skim of Project for Dummies
a few months ago (before being temporarily yanked to a more cruicial
project). The purpose is to port old legacy code to Dot Net and a newer
version of Project.

For this new project I need to recommend whether we use Project 2003 or
2007. The old legacy code, as I understand it, is VB5/6(?) which is using
whatever sort of interface Project 2000 had to copy an existing project into
memory and fill it in with outside data. It is also my understanding that
later there will be a web app to permit viewing and possibly some limited
editing of an existing project's data.

So, do I understand this correctly? (A few simple answers please):

1. Project 2003 uses either MPP files or Access mdb files to store
projects. 2007 uses either MPPs or something called Project Server running
on SQL Server 2000. Right?

2. Project 2003 uses COM objects. Project 2007 is entirely .Net oriented.

3. Has anyone else done anything like this? (Just how common is this sort
of programming?)

4. Can anyone offer any suggestions/insights/pointers to good
examples/whatever that might save me some time?

I suspect that using Project 2007 would be better and easier overall but
then, I have a vested interest in getting my hands on the latest technology.
(And I would like to give my managers an honest answer on the pros and cons
of the 2 versions.)

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

See replies embedded
--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

I'm in the very early stages of establishing requirements for a new
project
(A software project, not a Project project). I'm a .Net programmer. All
I
know about MS Project is what I got from a brief skim of Project for
Dummies
a few months ago (before being temporarily yanked to a more cruicial
project). The purpose is to port old legacy code to Dot Net and a newer
version of Project.

For this new project I need to recommend whether we use Project 2003 or
2007. The old legacy code, as I understand it, is VB5/6(?) which is using
whatever sort of interface Project 2000 had to copy an existing project
into
memory and fill it in with outside data. It is also my understanding that
later there will be a web app to permit viewing and possibly some limited
editing of an existing project's data.

So, do I understand this correctly? (A few simple answers please):

1. Project 2003 uses either MPP files or Access mdb files to store
projects.

Right


2007 uses either MPPs or something called Project Server running

on SQL Server 2000. Right?

Wrong. Project Server is a different product (that also exists in Project
2003).
Project can store its files to any ODBC data base or as XML

2. Project 2003 uses COM objects. Project 2007 is entirely .Net
oriented.

I'm not a professional developper so I can't answer this. Project 2007
accepts VBA just like 2003

3. Has anyone else done anything like this? (Just how common is this
sort
of programming?)

I've programmed over the years far over 10000 LOC in VBA also connecting
Project to the outside world

4. Can anyone offer any suggestions/insights/pointers to good
examples/whatever that might save me some time?

I suspect that using Project 2007 would be better and easier overall but
then, I have a vested interest in getting my hands on the latest
technology.

This is personal but I am afraid if not allergic to lastest (bug-loaded)
technology.
But that is maybe becasue I'm 65 years of age

(And I would like to give my managers an honest answer on the pros and
cons
of the 2 versions.)

For Project desktop versions the changes can't be very dramatic. Project
Server was completely overhauled

 

[Rod Gill]

Note that Project 2007 no longer supports saving projects to ODBC sources.
Also Project Server 2007 has a PSI code interface that provides an extensive
Web Service interface. Using Visual Studio 2008 you can create add-ins and
click once installations just as you could with Word and Excel in VS 2003.

--

Rod Gill
Project MVP

Project VBA Book, for details visit:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

NEW!! Web based VBA training course delivered by me. For details visit:
http://projectservertraining.com/learning/index.aspx

 

[B. Chernick]

Thanks but I don't dare suggest using VS2008 at this time. As for the rest,
unfortunately this is the first time I've tried to do anything at all in Dot
Net with Office, so I'm not really familiar with the techniques you're
talking about. Also it's uncertain at this time if we're going to be using
Project Server at all. (Still trying to extract the requirements from the
managers.

I'm going to create a new post in a somewhat different direction.