How To: Read MSPDI files

The Microsoft Project Data Interchange (MSPDI) format is an XML file format which Microsoft Project has been able to read and write since Project 2002.

Reading MSPDI files

The simplest way to read an MSPDI file is to use the UniversalProjectReader:

JavaC#

package org.mpxj.howto.read;

import net.sf.mpxj.ProjectFile;
import net.sf.mpxj.reader.UniversalProjectReader;

public class MSDPI
{
    public void read() throws Exception
    {
        UniversalProjectReader reader = new UniversalProjectReader();
        ProjectFile project = reader.read("my-sample.xml");
    }
}

using MPXJ.Net;

namespace MPXJ.Samples.HowToRead;

public class MSPDI
{
    public void Read()
    {
        var reader = new UniversalProjectReader();
        var project = reader.Read("my-sample.xml");
    }
}

Using MSPDIReader

You can work directly with the MSPDIReader class by replacing UniversalProjectReader with MSPDIReader. This provides access to additional options, as described below.

Charset

By default MPXJ assumes that MSPDI files are encoded as UTF-8. The UniversalProjectReader understands Unicode Byte Order Marks (BOM) and will adjust the encoding appropriately if a BOM is present. If you have an MSPDI file with an unusual encoding, you can manually set the encoding used by the reader, as illustrated below.

JavaC#

package org.mpxj.howto.read;

import net.sf.mpxj.ProjectFile;
import net.sf.mpxj.mspdi.MSPDIReader;

import java.nio.charset.Charset;

public class MSPDIWithCharset
{
    public void read() throws Exception
    {
        MSPDIReader reader = new MSPDIReader();

        reader.setCharset(Charset.forName("GB2312"));
        ProjectFile project = reader.read("my-sample.xml");
    }
}

using System.Text;
using MPXJ.Net;

namespace MPXJ.Samples.HowToRead;

public class MSPDIWithLocale
{
    public void Read()
    {
        var reader = new MSPDIReader();
        reader.Encoding = Encoding.GetEncoding("GB2312");
        var project = reader.Read("my-sample.xml");
    }
}

Microsoft Project Compatibility

Microsoft Project will read MSPDI files which are not valid XML according to the MSPDI schema. By default MPXJ has been configured to take the same approach. If for some reason you wish to apply strict validation when reading an MSPDI file, you can do this using the setMicrosoftProjectCompatibleInput method, as shown below.

JavaC#

package org.mpxj.howto.read;

import net.sf.mpxj.ProjectFile;
import net.sf.mpxj.mspdi.MSPDIReader;

public class MSPDICompatibleInput
{
    public void read() throws Exception
    {
        MSPDIReader reader = new MSPDIReader();
        reader.setMicrosoftProjectCompatibleInput(false);
        ProjectFile project = reader.read("my-sample.xml");
    }
}

using MPXJ.Net;

namespace MPXJ.Samples.HowToRead;

public class MSPDICompatibleInput
{
    public void Read()
    {
        var reader = new MSPDIReader();
        reader.MicrosoftProjectCompatibleInput = false;
        var project = reader.Read("my-sample.xml");
    }
}

Ignore Errors

By default MPXJ will ignore errors when parsing attributes from an MSPDI file. This behavior is controlled using the setIgnoreErrors method. The example below illustrates how we can force the MSPDIReader to report errors encountered when reading a file:

JavaC#

package org.mpxj.howto.read;

import net.sf.mpxj.ProjectFile;
import net.sf.mpxj.mspdi.MSPDIReader;

public class MSPDIIgnoreErrors
{
    public void read() throws Exception
    {
        MSPDIReader reader = new MSPDIReader();

        reader.setIgnoreErrors(false);
        ProjectFile project = reader.read("my-sample.xml");
    }
}

using MPXJ.Net;

namespace MPXJ.Samples.HowToRead;

public class MSPDIIgnoreErrors
{
    public void Read()
    {
        var reader = new MSPDIReader();
        reader.IgnoreErrors = false;
        var project = reader.Read("my-sample.xml");
    }
}

Note that if errors are ignored when reading a file, the ignored errors are available by using the ProjectFile.getIgnoredErrors() method.