Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit

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The Resource Kit
The Client Platform
The Network Platform
Server and Web Technologies
Programming Technologies

Part 1 of the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit, Environment, provides an overview of the Resource Kit and details information about Microsoft Project 2000 client and network platforms, server tools and technologies available with Microsoft Project 2000, and programming technologies to help developers build solutions for your organizations.

The Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit is also available for download here.

The Resource Kit

The Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit is designed for administrators, information technology (IT) professionals, and support staff who deploy and support Microsoft Project 2000. It features a comprehensive set of tools to assist you with installation, configuration, and Web services, as well as in-depth documentation of strategies and techniques that you can use to support Microsoft Project 2000 in your organization. This chapter describes the kit and helps you find the information you need.

The Client Platform

Systems requirements for running Microsoft Project 2000 on users' computers differ depending on the type of installation you choose (typical or custom) and your operating system environment. You might also need to consider additional requirements for running Microsoft Project 2000 in a Windows Terminal Services environment, or for installing Microsoft Project Central server.

The Network Platform

Microsoft Project 2000 helps network administrators reduce the total cost of ownership on a broad range of operating systems and network operating systems. However, some features provided by Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server or the Windows Desktop Update shell update makes Microsoft Project 2000 an even better total-cost-of-ownership citizen.

Server and Web Technologies

Microsoft BackOffice server components, as well as a variety of other server software tools and technologies complement and extend Microsoft Project 2000. These server tools and technologies can make Microsoft Project 2000 simpler to deploy and manage in a large organization and can make Microsoft Project 2000 users more productive by enhancing collaboration and making enterprise data readily available.

Programming Technologies

Microsoft Project 2000 includes powerful new technologies and programming models that help developers build custom Microsoft Project solutions. These new tools and technologies improve the ability of users to gather, analyze, customize, publish, and share information.

The Resource Kit

The Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit is designed for administrators, information technology (IT) professionals, and support staff who deploy and support Microsoft Project 2000. It features a comprehensive set of tools to assist you with installation, configuration, and Web services, as well as in-depth documentation of strategies and techniques that you can use to support Microsoft Project 2000 in your organization.

Documentation

Documentation for the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit is organized into seven parts. The contents of each part are described in the following sections.

Part 1: Environment

Part 1 provides an overview of the operating systems on which you can install Microsoft Project 2000, including Microsoft Windows 95/98, Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows NT Server 4.0, and the Windows 2000 family of products. The topics discuss hardware recommendations for running Microsoft Project 2000 on these operating systems, as well as notes on using Microsoft Project in a mixed-platform environment.

Server issues, which include information about service packs, security, and data access technologies, are covered separately. Also included are notes on the Microsoft BackOffice server suites, Microsoft Project Central, and on third-party supported network operating systems.

Part 2: Deployment

Part 2 describes the tools and strategies that you can use to deploy Microsoft Project 2000 throughout your organization. Basic installation methods are covered first, along with information about the new Windows Installer technology.

Other topics present the Custom Installation Wizard, which allows you to control how users in your organization install Microsoft Project on their computers, as well as the Profile Wizard, which lets you establish specific settings for toolbars, templates, and custom dictionaries. Special-case installations are also discussed, including deploying Microsoft Project 2000 in a multinational setting and managing different levels of customization within one organization. Information about deploying Microsoft Project 2000 with Microsoft Systems Management Server is also provided.

Part 3: Customizing Installation

Part 3 describes ways that you can customize Microsoft Project 2000 Setup and the features that are installed. It also discusses customizing the options settings for Microsoft Project 2000. Other topics describe how the Setup program works with the Windows Installer, how you can deploy a custom installation throughout your organization, and how to use the Profile Wizard to customize user profiles.

The final section of this part discusses the Removal Wizard and ways to use it to remove components from previous installations of Microsoft Project and to create a custom removal routine.

Part 4: Management and Support

Part 4 discusses how you can reduce the cost of supporting Microsoft Project 2000. The topics about system policies show how you can use the System Policy Editor to set configuration options.

Other topics describe how you can add your organizations information to the online Help system and the Answer Wizard. A final section covers the security features supported in Microsoft Project 2000.

Part 5: Upgrading

Part 5 describes strategies that you can use to upgrade your current files to Microsoft Project 2000. Information is included about the Microsoft Project Database Upgrade Utility COM add-in, which enables you to upgrade some or all of the projects in a Microsoft Access, SQL Server, or Oracle database from the Microsoft Project 98 database structure to the Microsoft Project 2000 database structure. Introductory topics discuss planning your move to Microsoft Project 2000.

Part 6: Microsoft Project Central

Part 6 presents Microsoft Project Central, which is a Microsoft Project companion product that enables collaborative planning among workgroup members, project managers, and other project stakeholders. 

Part 7: International Use

Part 7 covers the built-in support provided in Microsoft Project 2000 for international users. Other topics cover planning for a multinational deployment, using international dictionaries and proofing tools, and taking advantage of Unicode support to open documents across different language versions of the product.

Conventions used in Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit documentation

The following terms and text formats are used throughout the text of the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit.

Monospace

Toolbox

The Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit contains a number of tools that help you to customize, configure, and deploy Microsoft Project 2000 within your organization. You can install most of the core tools and support documents by going to the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

The following table summarizes the key tools that are currently available in the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox. New tools will be added periodically, so check back for updated Microsoft Project tools.

Many of these tools are common to Microsoft Office, so they are downloaded directly from the Office Resource Kit Web site. Any additional information and files you need to use these tools with Microsoft Project are in the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

In addition to these tools, the Microsoft Project Resource Kit includes a collection of reference documents, spreadsheets, and sample files. Complementary tools, such as the HTML Help Workshop, are also included.

See also

For a list and description of all tools, utilities, and support documents included with the Microsoft Project Resource Kit, see the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

Other Sites of Interest

In addition to the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit site, several Web sites feature information and tools designed to address the needs of administrators. The following sites might be of special interest to those of you who deploy and support Microsoft Project 2000.

Microsoft Project

The Microsoft Project Web site offers product information, reviews, solutions, case studies, and pricing and ordering information for Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Central. You can click the Site Map tab on the home page to get a complete index of all Microsoft sites related to Microsoft Project 2000 products.

Microsoft Office

This Microsoft Office Web site serves as a gateway to dozens of specialized sites that address solutions, strategies, and support issues for the Microsoft Office family of products. You can click the Site Map tab on the Office home page to get a complete index of all Microsoft sites related to Office products.

Microsoft TechNet

Microsoft TechNet is a central information and community resource designed for administrators and information technology (IT) professionals. TechNet contains a wealth of information about planning, evaluating, deploying, maintaining, and supporting a range of IT systems.

Office Developer Center

The Office Developer Center features articles, tools, and tips for creating programmable solutions by using Microsoft Office. Many topics focus on data access technologies, automation, and developing applications by using Office components and Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The site also provides free downloads for controls, utilities, and demos.

The Microsoft Project Developer Center has a wide array of technical articles, tips, code samples, and downloads. Check here often for the latest information that helps you develop sophisticated project management solutions using Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Central.

Office Update

The Office Update Web site provides information about Office and Microsoft Project upgrades and service releases, as well as downloads for add-ins, templates, and utilities. The site also features links to technical support sites for Office applications.

Microsoft Project Resource Kit for Microsoft Project 98

The complete contents of the Microsoft Project 98 Resource Kit is still available if you need to refer to Microsoft Project 98 information or tools.

The Client Platform

Systems requirements for running Microsoft Project 2000 on users' computers differ, depending on the type of installation you choose (typical or custom) and your operating system environment. You might also need to consider additional requirements for running Microsoft Project 2000 in a Windows Terminal Services environment, or for installing Microsoft Project Central Server.

Systems Requirements

The following sections contain systems requirements for Microsoft Project 2000 and Microsoft Project Central.

Microsoft Project

Available disk space:  Microsoft Project 2000 requires the following disk space, depending on the type of installation you choose (typical or custom):

• Typical: 100 MB

• Complete: 204 MB

These figures are the maximum required; many of the required files may already reside on the system from an installation of Microsoft Office 2000 or Microsoft Windows 2000.

Operating system:  Microsoft Project 2000 requires Windows 95 or 98, Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 (Service Pack 3 or later), or Windows 2000 Professional.

Installation points for shared components:  New shared components of Microsoft Project 2000 are installed in the folder Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared. If you already have some shared components from an earlier version of Microsoft Project or a version of Microsoft Office earlier than Office 2000, the setup program leaves the old files in the Windows\Msapps folder and installs the Microsoft Project 2000 shared files to the new location.

If you're installing Microsoft Project 2000 on a computer running the Windows NT 4.0 operating system, you should obtain the updated files found in Service Pack 3 or later, which includes all updates to Windows NT Workstation and Windows NT Server 4.0. 

To download the latest service pack from the Microsoft Web site 

1. Connect to the Microsoft Windows Web site.

2. Follow the instructions at the top of the page.

Microsoft Project Central

Microsoft Project Central Server requirements:  Hardware and system requirements for the Microsoft Project Central Server installations are as follows:

• Windows NT Server version 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later, or Microsoft Windows 2000 (Advanced Server or Professional).

• If you use Windows NT 4.0, then you also need Windows NT Option Pack 4.0 so that you can install Microsoft Internet Information Server version 4.0. If you use Windows 2000, you must install Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0, which is shipped with Windows 2000.

• If you use Windows NT 4.0, you must install Microsoft Internet Service Manager as an option with Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0. If you do not have Windows NT Server, you can also use Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack 4.0 with Windows NT Workstation; however, you will be limited to 10 connections.

  To obtain either the Windows NT Service Pack or Option Pack 4.0, go to the Microsoft Windows NT Server Downloads Web site.

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 is available on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD. The path for the Internet Explorer setup file is IE5\EN\ie5setup.exe.

• Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, Oracle Server 8.0, or Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE). MSDE is included and installed with the Microsoft Project Central Server setup. MSDE is installed if it's not already on the system and if SQL Server is not installed. Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) version 2.5 is also installed with the Microsoft Project Central Server setup.

• Available hard-disk space: 100–150 MB recommended.

• Processor: Intel Pentium 200 MHz or higher, or similar processor.

• Memory requirements: 128 MB RAM or more.

• The hard disk and memory requirements are for a default installation. Your hard disk and memory requirement may vary depending on your configuration and the options you choose to install.

• Microsoft Project Central Server and Microsoft Project can be installed on the same computer if necessary. Shared components of Microsoft Project Central Server and Microsoft Project 2000 will be installed in the folder Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\1033 (or the appropriate folder for the language version you use).

Microsoft Project Central browser client requirements:  Hardware, software, and system requirements for the browser client for Microsoft Project Central are as follows:

• Windows 95 or 98, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later, or Windows 2000

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later, or the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central

• Available hard disk space: 10–20 MB recommended

• Processor: Intel Pentium 75 MHz or higher or similar processor

• Memory requirements: 16 MB RAM or more

If you choose not to use Internet Explorer, you can use an alternate browser client, the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central. To learn about the browser module, see Installing Microsoft Project Central in Part 6 – Microsoft Project Central of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

After installation, clients can connect to the Microsoft Project Central Server using either Internet Explorer or the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central. Clients accessing the Microsoft Project Central Server must have a Microsoft Project Central client access license.

See also

Some of the features available to Microsoft Project 2000 users depend on which Web browser is installed on users' computers and on which Web server components are installed on the organization's servers. For information about Web browser and Web server requirements, see the Internet and Intranet Technologies section in this article.

Some data access features available to Microsoft Project 2000 users depend on the data access components that are installed on users' computers. For more information about data access technologies, see the Data Connectivity Technologies section in this article.

Some data access features available to Microsoft Project 2000 users also depend on the database servers that are available on an organization's network. For more information, see the Database Servers and Data Access Technologies section in this article.

Microsoft Project 2000 provides you with the flexibility to customize and install Microsoft Project in a number of different ways. For information about installation options, see Basic Installation in Part 2 – Deployment of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

Windows Terminal Services

Organizations that use Microsoft Project 2000 in cross-platform, legacy hardware, or terminal-based environments can use Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition or the Terminal Services feature of Windows 2000 (Terminal Services). The Windows Terminal Services environment allows different types of hardware platforms to act as Windows-based terminals running Windows-based 32-bit applications from a back-end Windows NT-based server.

This configuration is a particularly compelling solution for managing the coexistence or migration period of an enterprise upgrade to Microsoft Project 2000. Running Microsoft Project 2000 under Windows Terminal Services can also help reduce management costs by shifting the primary hardware requirements from the users computer to the server, which is maintained centrally. Running Microsoft Project 2000 as a Windows Terminal Services application is a scalable solution that helps reduce cost of ownership without compromising productivity.

How the Terminal Services platform works

Windows Terminal Server and Terminal Services contain both server and client components. The server components can host multiple, simultaneous client sessions on Windows NT Server**.** The client components contain only the minimum amount of software necessary to start the client computer, establish a connection to the server, and display the user interface.

All other operating system functions run on the server, including applications such as Microsoft Project 2000. Each user that runs an application on Terminal Services opens a separate instance of the application on the server, and all customizations are stored in a per-user storage area.

Running Microsoft Project 2000 under Terminal Services

To run efficiently on the Windows Terminal Services platform, an application must meet the following requirements.

Separate application settings and user settings

Users must be able to customize their applications and have their settings persist between sessions, without interference from settings for other users.

In Microsoft Project 2000, application-specific settings are stored in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree in the registry. User-specific settings can be stored as files or as registry entries. User settings stored as files are located in the Windows\Profiles\<Username>\Application Data folder, and user settings stored in the registry are located in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER subtree.

Flexible path names in the registry

Installation locations can change, leaving hard-coded path names pointing to invalid sources. To run well under Windows Terminal Services, an application must have the flexibility to redirect the path as necessary.

The Windows Installer, which is included in Microsoft Project 2000 and Windows 2000, keeps track of installation locations and installed files. If the default server is unavailable, the Windows Installer redirects the connection to the next available source.

Support for environment variables

Environment variables are useful for administrators who want to create a different storage path for each user. For example, an administrator might want to store all users Microsoft Excel files on one server by setting the path to the following:

X:\Userdata\xl\%Username%

To work correctly, the environment variable %Username% must be expanded for each individual user. Because the Terminal Services platform saves files using hard-coded paths, ordinarily it would not correctly expand an environment variable if the server were mapped to a different drive letter. However, Microsoft Project 2000 uses the detection capabilities of the Windows Installer, which automatically detects the next recognized storage location.

Use of the Temp folder for nonpersistent data

Previous versions of Microsoft Project store some user data files in the Temp folder. Under Terminal Services, however, storing user data in the Temp folder creates a security risk and can cause conflicts between user settings, because all settings are stored in the single server-based Temp folder.

To avoid this problem, Microsoft Project 2000 was redesigned to use the Windows\Profiles\<Username>\Application Data folder and the My Documents folder as the defaults for user data storage.

Benefits of Terminal Services

Microsoft Project 2000 detects when it is running on Terminal Services and optimizes its behavior automatically. For example, it displays lower-resolution application splash screens that are displayed more quickly.

Running Microsoft Project 2000 in the Terminal Services environment is a desirable option for corporations that require complete central control over the user environment, even to the level of total system lockdown. To configure and control user settings in Microsoft Project 2000, administrators use systems policies. Microsoft Project 2000 provides the same level of support for system policies when running on Windows and Windows Terminal Services platforms.

See also

For information about installing Microsoft Project 2000 in a Terminal Services environment, see Using Microsoft Project 2000 with Terminal Services in Part 2 – Deployment of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

For information about using system policies in Microsoft Project 2000, see Setting System Policies in Part 4 – Management and Support of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

The Network Platform

Microsoft Project 2000 helps network administrators reduce the total cost of ownership on a broad range of operating systems and network operating systems. However, some features provided by Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server or the Windows Desktop Update shell update make Microsoft Project 2000 an even better total-cost-of-ownership citizen.

Supported Operating Systems and Clients

Microsoft Project 2000 supports most widely available network operating systems and network clients for file and printing services. Microsoft Project 2000 has been tested with the following network servers and clients.

Microsoft network operating systems and clients

Microsoft Project 2000 supports the following Microsoft network servers and clients.

Supported network servers 

• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

Supported network clients 

• Microsoft Windows 95 with Service Pack 1 or later and Client for Microsoft Networks

• Microsoft Windows 98 and Client for Microsoft Networks

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

Novell Network operating systems and clients

Microsoft Project 2000 supports the following Novell network servers and clients:

Supported network servers 

• Novell NetWare version 3.12 with year 2000 updates

• Novell NetWare version 4.11 with year 2000 updates

• Novell intraNetWare version 4.11 with Support Pack 5b and year 2000 updates Note   Due to significant changes, such as supporting TCP/IP natively, Novell NetWare 5 was not tested for full support.

Supported Novell network clients 

• Microsoft Windows 95 with Service Pack 1 and Novell intraNetWare client version 2.5

• Microsoft Windows 98 with Novell intraNetWare client version 2.5

• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Workstation with Service Pack 3 or later and Novell intraNetWare client version 4.30.410

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Novell intraNetWare client version 4.30.410

Supported Microsoft network clients 

• Microsoft Windows 95 with Service Pack 1 or later and Client for NetWare Networks with Service for NetWare Directory Services

• Microsoft Windows 98 and Client for NetWare Networks with Service for NetWare Directory Services

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later and Client Service for NetWare

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Client Service for NetWare

Banyan Network operating systems and clients

Microsoft Project 2000 supports the following Banyan network servers and clients.

Supported network servers 

• Banyan VINES version 6.4

• Banyan VINES version 8.5

Note   Banyan VINES version 6.x does not support long file names. Banyan VINES 7.x or later does support long file names. Also, Banyan requires upgrading to VINES version 8.5 for year 2000 support.

Supported network clients 

• Microsoft Windows 95 with Service Pack 1 or later and Banyan VINES Enterprise Client 8.52 for Windows 95

• Microsoft Windows 98 and Banyan VINES Enterprise Client 8.52 for Windows 95

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later and Banyan VINES Enterprise Client 8.56 for Windows NT

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Banyan VINES Enterprise Client 8.56 for Windows NT

LANtastic peer-to-peer network operating systems

Microsoft Project 2000 supports the following Artisoft LANtastic peer-to-peer networking software:

• Microsoft Windows 95 with Service Pack 1 or later and Artisoft LANtastic version 7.0

• Microsoft Windows 98 and Artisoft LANtastic version 7.0

Microsoft Windows 2000

If an organization deploys Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Professional, including Active Directory, then Microsoft Project 2000 can take advantage of additional Windows 2000 features. Some of these features require only Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2000 Professional; most require both.

IntelliMirror support

IntelliMirror is a set of powerful features native to Windows 2000 for change and configuration management of users computers. These features combine the advantages of centralized computing with the performance and flexibility of distributed computing. By leveraging different features in both the server and client operating systems, IntelliMirror allows users data, applications, and settings to follow them to any computer on their organizations network.

All users have individual data and settings. IntelliMirror increases the availability of the users computer and computing environment by intelligently storing information, settings, and applications based on policy definitions. IntelliMirror can recover and restore users data, applications, and personal settings in a Windows 2000–based environment.

At the core of IntelliMirror are three features:

• User data management

• Software installation and maintenance

• User and computer settings management

Administrators can use these IntelliMirror features separately or together, depending on the requirements of their environments. Microsoft Project 2000 fully supports these features.

User data management

The user data management feature of IntelliMirror supports the mirroring of users data to the network and the local caching of selected network data. This feature ensures that data is protected, is available offline, and is available from any computer on the network.

Data follows the user only if the data is stored in a location set to roam, such as the My Documents folder. Microsoft Project 2000 supports user data management by storing users Microsoft Project 2000 documents in the My Documents folder by default.

Software installation and maintenance

The software installation and maintenance features in Windows 2000 allow an application to be assigned to a user or a computer or published to a user. Microsoft Project 2000 fully supports assigning and publishing applications. Assigning and publishing applications requires both Windows 2000 Professional and Windows 2000 Server.

When an application is assigned to a user, the application is advertised for that user the next time the user logs on to a Windows 2000 Professional computer. Advertising is the process of preconfiguring some Windows registry information (such as file associations, OLE activation information, and support for the Windows Installer service) and application shortcuts on the client computer.

The application shortcuts allow the Windows Installer to install the application the first time it is started. The application file associations and OLE activation information allow the Windows Installer to install the application the first time a user attempts to open a file or activate an OLE object that requires a missing application.

When an application is assigned to a computer, the application is fully installed the next time the computer is started and connects to the Windows 2000 network. The application is then available to all users of that computer.

When an application is published to users, the application is made available in the Active Directory. No advertisement or application information, such as shortcuts, is installed on users computers; however, all published packages, such as Microsoft Project 2000, are displayed in Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. Information in the Active Directory enables the application to be installed automatically when needed — for example, if a user who has not installed Microsoft Project opens a Microsoft Project 2000 document.

Microsoft Project 2000 can be assigned to either users or computers or published to users. As part of enabling applications to be assigned and published to users, Windows 2000 introduces per-user support in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry subtree. (In Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT Workstation 4.0, the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT subtree is supported on a per-machine basis.) The HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT subtree contains the file association and class registration for OLE.

In previous versions of Windows, if one user has the DOC file type set to Wordpad.exe and another user logs on to that computer, then that users DOC files are associated with Wordpad.exe, even if the other user has DOC files associated with Winword.exe in his or her roaming user profile. Windows 2000 solves this problem by supporting the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT subtree on a per-user basis, which allows this information to roam with the user.

These per-user associations are set up when an application is installed for a particular user. When an application is installed for all users of a computer, the per-machine version of HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT subtree is used. The per-user features of the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT subtree require Windows 2000 Professional.

Windows 2000 has also changed OLE activation to call the Windows Installer. If a user activates an OLE object, such as an embedded document, then the operating system calls the Windows Installer for the required application. As long as the required application is installed by using the Windows Installer and is set to Installed on First Use, then the Windows Installer can install the application required to work with the OLE object even if the application has never been installed on the users computer.

Note   If the required application is installed by using the Windows Installer, but is set to Not Available, or if the application does not use the Windows Installer, then an error message is displayed and the OLE object cannot be activated until the user runs Setup manually.

When the required application is set to Installed on First Use, the behavior of applications that use the Windows Installer differs slightly, depending on the version of Windows that is running on the users computer. When running under Windows 2000 Professional, the missing application required to open an OLE object is automatically installed without user intervention. (When running under Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT Workstation 4.0, the missing application required to open an OLE object is installed, but the user is prompted first.)

Additionally, if the application has been installed but has been damaged (for example, if a key file has been deleted), then the Windows Installer repairs the application before it passes the path to the application back to OLE. This behavior gives applications that use the Windows Installer install-on-demand and resiliency with OLE activation. In applications that do not use the Windows Installer, OLE does not call the Windows Installer and activation of the application fails.

Windows 2000 Professional is required to install an application automatically and to activate an OLE object without user intervention.

User and computer settings management

Using the Windows 2000 user and computer settings management feature allows administrators to centrally define computing environments for groups of users and computers so that those users and computers automatically get the correct environment. Administrators can add new users and computers, define settings for groups of people and computers, and apply changes for groups of people.

Furthermore, with the IntelliMirror feature enabled, administrators can restore a users settings if a computer fails, and ensure that a users computer settings follow the user if he or she roams to another computer on the network.

Microsoft Project 2000 supports this feature by providing application policies in the form of administrative template (ADM) files that can be used to customize Microsoft Project.

With Windows 2000, the registry policy folders (Software\Policies) under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER subtree and the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree are volatile. When any Group Policy object that affects a user or computer changes, keys written by that Group Policy are deleted and rewritten.

This behavior allows the policy settings to change whenever the affected Group Policy objects change, such as when a user roams to a different organizational unit. Also, these registry folders are secured so that only administrators can change the entries and values. (In previous versions of Windows, any user can change policy settings in the registry.)

User and computer settings management features require Windows 2000 Professional.

Remote operating system installation

In addition to IntelliMirror features, Windows 2000 supports remote operating system installation, which simplifies the task of installing a new copy of the operating system on client computers throughout the organization.

Remote operating system installation provides a mechanism for computers to connect to a network server during initial start up and then allows the server to drive a local installation of Windows 2000 Professional. When used with IntelliMirror, remote operating system installation reduces the costs of setting up new computers, and provides better recovery from computer failures.

If you are adding or replacing a computer, or returning a repaired computer to the network, remote operating system installation provides the services to reload the operating system. At the same time, IntelliMirror provides the services to quickly regenerate installed applications, such as Microsoft Project 2000, and to restore user data and personal computer settings.

Remote operating system installation requires Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Professional.

Distributed File System

The Windows 2000 Distributed File System (DFS) provides a layer of indirection for servers. DFS permits consolidation of server and share names into a single logical directory. Using DFS, an administrator can set up a series of Microsoft Project 2000 distribution servers advertised as a single DFS name. This configuration allows the administrator to provide load balancing and redundancy on the servers used to deploy Microsoft Project 2000.

For example, using DFS, an administrator can publish three servers (\\Server1\Project2000, \\Server2\Project2000, and \\Server3\Project2000) as child nodes of a \\Software\Apps\Project2000 share. When a client computer gains access to the \\Software\Apps\Project2000 share, it is transparently routed to one of the three participating servers.

The Windows Installer service can use a source list. If the service cannot connect to the last source it used, it searches for an available server stored in the source list. During deployment, an administrator can place other servers in the source list. If you choose to use DFS instead, you probably do not want to use the source list feature provided by the Windows Installer, unless you want to have one group of servers back up another group of servers.

DFS requires Windows NT Server 4.0 or Windows 2000 Server for DFS server shares. Client computers must be running a version of Windows supported by Microsoft Project to access DFS shares. Computers running Windows 95 must install the DFS client software separately to work with DFS shares. The Windows Installer source list feature works under all versions of Windows supported by Microsoft Project.

See also

For more information about Windows 2000, see the Windows 2000 Server Web site.

For information about group policies in Windows 2000, see the "Windows 2000 Group Policy" white paper on the Microsoft Windows 2000 Web site.

Server and Web Technologies

Microsoft BackOffice server components, as well as a variety of other server software tools and technologies, complement and extend Microsoft Project 2000. These server tools and technologies can make Microsoft Project 2000 simpler to deploy and manage in a large organization and can make Microsoft Project 2000 users more productive by enhancing collaboration and making enterprise data readily available.

Network Systems Management Tools

Network systems management tools such as Microsoft Systems Management Server allows you to manage software installation and the administration of multiple workstations from a central management point.

Microsoft Systems Management Server

Microsoft Systems Management Server is a key component in the Microsoft Zero Administration Initiative for the Microsoft Windows operating system. SMS provides tools such as hardware and software inventory, software distribution and installation, and remote diagnostics to let you better manage your computing environment.

Systems Management Server is designed to help system administrators lower their management costs by helping them install and maintain operating systems and applications, discover system configurations, and perform support staff operations. SMS is a highly scalable, WAN-compatible product that can be integrated with the major enterprise management solutions.

By using Systems Management Server, you can schedule and push installations to the users computers, create reports about successful or unsuccessful deployments, place network bandwidth constraints on pushed installations, and store data about products installed on each computer. SMS is the ideal change and configuration management tool that can help you deploy and maintain Microsoft Project 2000 in your organization.

You can use Systems Management Server to evaluate your hardware and software and simplify Microsoft Project 2000 deployment. Systems Management Server can help you distribute, install, and update Microsoft Project 2000 on your servers and client computers. SMS also provides a variety of troubleshooting and network monitoring tools that help make distribution and deployment of Microsoft Project 2000 a smooth and efficient process.

Other systems management tools

Other software vendors produce systems management tools that can be used to distribute and install Windows applications to client computers. These additional systems management tools include the following:

• Intel LANDesk Management Suite

• HP OpenView Desktop Administrator

• Tivoli Enterprise and Tivoli IT Director

• Computer Associates Unicenter TNG

• ON Command CCM

See also

For detailed information about Systems Management Server version 1.2 or 2.0 and detailed instructions for using either version to deploy Microsoft Project 2000, see Deployment with Systems Management Server in Part 2 – Deployment of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit. The package definition files (pdf) for deploying Microsoft Project with Systems Management Server are available in the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

For additional product information about Systems Management Server, see the Microsoft Systems Management Server Web site.

Database Servers and Data Access Technologies

Microsoft Project 2000 supports the following databases through Open Database Connectivity (ODBC):

• Microsoft Access 2000

• Oracle Server, version 8.0 or later

• Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or later

Microsoft Project data can be stored in one of these types of databases if you click ODBC in the File Open and File Save dialog boxes.

Microsoft Project can also make the ODBC connection automatically when writing to and reading from Microsoft Access 2000 databases if you select Project Database (.mpd) or Microsoft Access 2000 Database (.mdb) as the file type in the File Open and File Save dialog boxes.

Note Saving or loading data is not supported with tables that are linked in Microsoft Access in such a way that the data exists in another application or database management system, and Microsoft Access provides just the connection. To access the data you must actually import it into Microsoft Access or connect to the source directly.**Toolbox   **Microsoft Visio and HTML diagrams of the Microsoft Project 2000 database schema are available in the Microsoft Project Resource Kit Toolbox.

Loading Microsoft Project 98 projects stored in a database

You can open a project in Microsoft Project 2000 that was previously saved to database using Microsoft Project 98. However, if you save the project to a database again, it is saved with the Microsoft Project 2000 database structure.

Upgrading the database structure from Microsoft Project 98 to Microsoft Project 2000

You can use the Database Upgrade Utility feature to upgrade some or all of the projects in a Microsoft Access, SQL Server, or Oracle database from the Microsoft Project 98 database structure to the Microsoft Project 2000 database structure. To load the Database Upgrade Utility feature, right-click the Microsoft Project 2000 toolbar. On the menu of available toolbars, click Database Upgrade Utility.

Other database servers

Microsoft Project 2000 can access server data from VBA code by using ODBC drivers and OLE DB data providers. The Data Access Objects (DAO) programming model can be used to access ODBC data sources. The ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) programming model can be used to access ODBC and OLE DB data sources.

Data connectivity technologies

In the past, Microsoft Office and Office family applications, including Microsoft Project, have supported a broad variety of data formats and data access technologies. All Microsoft products that support data access are converging on a new data access strategy called Universal Data Access.

The primary technologies that are used to implement Universal Data Access are the low-level data access component architecture, called OLE DB, and the higher level programming interface to OLE DB, ActiveX Data Objects (ADO). ADO can be used from any programming language that complies with the Component Object Model (COM). For Office and Microsoft Project solution development, COM compliance includes Visual Basic, Visual Basic for Applications, Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript), Microsoft JScript, Microsoft Visual C++ and Microsoft Visual J++.

You can install the OLE DB components and ADO 2.5 with Microsoft Project 2000. ADO supports a broader array of data sources than the DAO programming model. However, Microsoft Project 2000 continues to provide support for DAO through the Microsoft DAO 3.6 object library, so users can continue to run existing solutions that were developed by using DAO, and developers can continue to create new solutions that use DAO as well. You can also use both ADO and DAO code in your solution if you want.

OLE DB

OLE DB is an interface with an open specification designed to build on the success of ODBC by providing an open standard for accessing an even broader variety of data. Whereas ODBC was created to access primarily relational databases, OLE DB is designed for both relational and nonrelational data sources, including hierarchical databases; e-mail and file system stores; text, graphical, and geographical data; and custom business objects.

OLE DB consists of a collection of COM interfaces to various database management system services. OLE DB provides access to a particular data source by using a COM component called a data provider, which is often referred to as an OLE DB provider. If the system that the Microsoft Project solution is running on has the appropriate OLE DB provider installed (as well as the core ADO and OLE DB components, which you install with Microsoft Project), then that solution can use ADO code to work with the data exposed by that provider.

Microsoft Project solution developers can use the Microsoft Project OLE DB providers to access project data. If the data is stored in a Microsoft Access or SQL database, solution developers can also use the Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider. If the data is stored in SQL or MSDE, it can be accessed using the SQL OLE DB provider.

Microsoft Project Central data can be accessed using the SQL OLE DB provider if the project is stored in a SQL or MSDE database.

Microsoft Project OLE DB provider

The current implementation of the Microsoft Project OLE DB provider has a few limitations, as follows:

• Read/write access is not supported.

• Multiple-table queries are not supported: You must use a separate query for each table you wish to access.

• Access provided with forward-only cursors: Forward-only recordsets don't support methods such as MovePrevious, MoveFirst, or MoveLast. Also, forward-only recordsets don't support the use of the RecordCount property.

• Joins are not supported. However, shaped recordsets can provide similar functionality by making relationships that had not previously existed between keys, fields, or rowsets. It is also possible to create hierarchical recordsets from a tabular format. For more information, see "Microsoft Data Shaping Service for OLE DB" in the ActiveX Data Objects Help.

• The ANY, LIKE, and IS NOT operators are not supported.

• The aggregate functions Sum, Avg, Min, Max, Count, and StDev are not supported.

For more information on how to access Microsoft Project data through the Microsoft Project 2000 OLE DB Provider, see the file OLE_DB.htm located on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD in the folder \Pfiles\MsOffice\Office\1033\.

For more information on using Microsoft Project with data access pages, see the file Svrsetup.htm located on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD in the folder \Pjcentrl\HELP\1033\.

Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider:  Works with the Microsoft Jet database engine, which provides access to data in Microsoft Access 2000. You can use this provider if you have stored your project data in a Microsoft Access database. You can also create a data access page in Access that accesses information in a Microsoft Project database file (MPD or MDB file). 

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server:  Provides access to databases stored on Microsoft SQL Server versions 6.5 and 7.0.

Toolbox Sample data access pages that bind to Microsoft Project data are available in the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit Toolbox.

ActiveX Data Objects

ADO is an easy-to-use, application-level programming interface to the new and powerful data access technology, OLE DB. The ADO programming model supports key features for building desktop, client/server, and Web-based solutions, including the following:

• Support for independently created objects. Unlike DAO or Remote Data Objects (RDO), you no longer have to navigate through a hierarchy to create objects because most ADO objects can be independently created. This allows you to create and track only the objects you need and also results in fewer ADO objects and thus a smaller memory footprint.

• Batch updating, which helps improve performance by locally caching changes to data and then writing all the changes to the server in a single update.

• Support for stored procedures with in/out parameters and return values against a Microsoft SQL Server database.

• Different cursor types, including the potential for support of cursors specific to back ends.

• Support for limits on the number of returned records and other query goals for performance tuning. **Tip   **The ADO MaxRecords property of a Recordset object, which is designed to limit the number of returned records, is not supported by the Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider or the Microsoft Access ODBC driver. However, if you require this functionality, you can use the TOP n predicate in a Microsoft Jet SQL statement, or you can set the TopValues property of a query that is saved in an Access database.

• Support for multiple Recordset objects returned from stored procedures or batch statements. **Note   **Multiple Recordset objects can be returned for SQL Server databases. Access databases cannot return multiple Recordset objects because Microsoft Jet SQL statements do not support multiple SELECT statements.

• Apartment or free-threaded objects for efficient Web server applications.

Support for older data access technologies

Microsoft Project 2000 continues to support data access solutions that use the older DAO programming model and ODBC drivers.

Data Access Objects

When you install Microsoft Project 2000, you get DAO version 3.6. For more information on DAO, see the Office Resource Kit.

In most cases, DAO code written to use ODBC data sources in versions of Microsoft Project earlier than Microsoft Project 2000 do continue to work. Code that uses 16-bit versions of ODBC drivers do not work until you recreate data source names by using the ODBC Data Sources (32bit) icon in Control Panel. ODBC data sources can also be used in code written by using the new ADO programming model using the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC.

Open Database Connectivity

Microsoft Project 2000 still includes features that use ODBC and ODBC data sources. Microsoft Project 2000 installs updated versions of ODBC drivers for Access, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle databases.

See also

For more information the Microsoft Project database structure and about creating and updating project data directly in the database while maintaining the consistency and integrity of the data, see the file ProjDB.htm located on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD in the folder  \Pfiles\Msoffice\Office\1033\.

For more information on using Microsoft Project with data access pages, see the file svrsetup.htm located on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD in the folder \Pjcentrl\Help\1033\.

For more information of the database schema for Microsoft Project Central, see the file Svrdb.htm on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD in the folder \Pjcentrl\Help\1033\.

For more information on how to access Microsoft Project data through the Microsoft Project 2000 OLE DB provider, see the file OLE_DB.htm located on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD in the folder \Pjcentrl\HELP\1033\. In addition to describing the OLE DB table structures, this document details some of the limitations of the provider, describes how to access the table structure using data access pages, and provides sample ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) code.

For more information about Microsoft SQL Server, see the Microsoft SQL Server Web site and SQL Server Books Online, which is installed with SQL Server.

For information about implementing and troubleshooting SQL Server, see the SQL Server Web site on TechNet.

Mainframe and UNIX Server Data

Microsoft Project 2000 users might need to access data stored on mainframe or UNIX servers. Microsoft BackOffice provides Microsoft Systems Network Architecture (SNA) Server 4.0 to provide gateway and application integration support for a broad range of desktop operating systems with IBM Host systems.

Microsoft Project, as well as Office 2000 applications, provides support for accessing data by using the ADO programming model from VBA code and VBScript script in HTML documents. ADO can use OLE DB data providers and ODBC drivers to access data.

Microsoft Systems Network Architecture Server

Organizations are increasingly using Microsoft Windows operating systems to create a variety of solutions in the enterprise including the following: sophisticated intranets, electronic commerce applications, customer services applications, and complex distributed transaction processing. Using the latest distributed Windows and BackOffice technology ensures that these solutions can be implemented quickly and inexpensively. At the same time, businesses need to preserve their investments in existing data and applications on mainframe and AS/400 systems.

Traditionally, integration of client/server and host environments has meant using terminal emulation to provide access to mainframe and AS/400 resources. Microsoft SNA Server 4.0 provides comprehensive gateway and application integration features such as the following:

• Support for database access that uses the ODBC and Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA) standards by using the StarSQL ODBC/DRDA drivers.

• Support for record-level access to Virtual Sequential Access Method (VSAM) and other databases on mainframe and AS/400 systems by using the OLE DB Provider for AS/400 and VSAM.

• Support for distributed transaction processing and Web-to-host integration solutions that use host Customer Information Control System (CICS) or IBM Information Management System (IMS) transactions.

You can use the StarSQL ODBC/DRDA drivers and the OLE DB provider for AS/400 and VSAM data provider that are installed as part of Microsoft SNA Server client software to access mainframe and AS/400 data sources.

Microsoft Project 2000 can access server data from VBA code by using ODBC drivers and OLE DB data providers. The DAO programming model can be used to access ODBC data sources. The ADO programming model can be used to access ODBC and OLE DB data sources from VBA code and from VBScript script in HTML documents.

OLE DB providers for mainframe and UNIX server data

Microsoft Project 2000 can access data by using OLE DB data providers in conjunction with ADO programming model from VBA code and from VBScript script in HTML documents. In addition to the OLE DB provider for AS/400 and VSAM that is installed with Microsoft SNA Server 4.0, the following vendors are currently supplying or will supply OLE DB providers to access VSAM, AS/400, HP/UX, IBM AIX, and OpenVMS data:

• Amalgamated Software of North America

• IBM Corporation

• International Software Group

• MetaWise

• Microsoft Corporation

See also

For information about support for data access by using VBA and database connectivity standards, see Database Servers and Data Access Technologies in this article.

For more information on how to access Microsoft Project data through the Microsoft Project 2000 OLE DB provider, see the file OLE_DB.htm located on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD in the folder \pfiles\nmsoffice\office\1033\. In addition to describing the OLE DB table structures, this document details some of the limitations of the provider, how to access the table structure using data access pages, and sample ADO code.

For more information about Microsoft SNA Server 4.0, see the Microsoft SNA Server Web site and SNA Server online Help, which is installed with SQL Server.

Internet and Intranet Technologies

Some of the features in Microsoft Project 2000 depend on functionality that is provided by the Web browser components that are installed on users computers.

Web browser requirements for Microsoft Project 2000

Microsoft Project 2000 works best with versions of Microsoft Windows that have been updated with the latest Web browsing functionality — Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 or later. If you install Microsoft Project 2000 on a computer that does not include Internet Explorer 5 or later, clicking the Install Now button in Microsoft Project 2000 Setup automatically upgrades Windows to Internet Explorer 5.

If a users computer has a version of Windows that includes Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or 4.0, users are not required to upgrade or install Web browsing functionality during Microsoft Project Setup. In this case, clicking the Customize button in Microsoft Project 2000 Setup makes upgrading Windows with Internet Explorer 5 optional.

When a users computer has one of the following Web browsers installed, Windows must be upgraded to include the latest Web browsing functionality:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 or earlier

• Another browser, such as Netscape Navigator

• No browser

In this case, choosing the Customize button in the Microsoft Project 2000 Setup provides three installation options:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 — Standard

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 — Minimal

• Windows Web Browsing Components Only

The Windows Web Browsing Components feature updates Windows with basic Web browsing functionality, but leaves the users default browser unchanged. Running Microsoft Project 2000 on a computer that has been updated with the Windows Web Browsing Components yields full functionality in Microsoft Project 2000 applications.

Note   If Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 is installed before you install Microsoft Project 2000, choosing the Windows Web Browsing Components feature upgrades Internet Explorer 2.0 to Internet Explorer 5. Internet Explorer 2.0 and the updated Windows Web Browsing Components cannot coexist on a computer.

Online Help in Microsoft Project 2000 requires Internet Explorer 4.01 or later or Windows Web Browsing Components. If users don't have these installed, online Help is not available. If users upgrade Windows to include Internet Explorer 4 or later at any time after installing Microsoft Project 2000, full functionality for Help becomes available at that time.

Tip   You can download the latest version of Internet Explorer from the Internet Explorer Web site. The Windows Web Browsing Components can be installed only by running Microsoft Project 2000 Setup.

Web browser requirements for Microsoft Project Central

Hardware, software, and system requirements for the browser client for Microsoft Project Central are as follows:

• Windows 95 or 98, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later, or Windows 2000

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later, or the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central

• Available hard disk space: 10–20 MB recommended

• Processor: Intel Pentium 75 MHz or higher or similar processor

• Memory requirements: 16 MB RAM or more

Once installed, clients can connect to the Microsoft Project Central server using either Internet Explorer or the Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central. Clients accessing the Microsoft Project Central Server must have a Microsoft Project Central client access license.

If you choose not to use Internet Explorer, an alternate browser client is available. The Browser Module for Microsoft Project Central uses the Microsoft Internet Explorer functionality in Windows, but does not register itself as a browser. It can only view a Microsoft Project Central site.

Web features available in Microsoft Project 2000

When you run Microsoft Project 2000 on a version of Windows that includes Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later or the Windows Web Browsing Components, all Microsoft Project 2000 features that depend on Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 components are available, as described in the following sections.

Web features

Microsoft Project 2000 allows users to follow hyperlinks in documents.

By using the Open and Save As dialog boxes (File menu), users can also open and save files on Web servers through the HTTP protocol. By using the Web Folders object in Windows Explorer or in the Open and Save As dialog boxes, users can also open, cut, copy, paste, or drag files to or from a Web server. These features also require that the Web server have one of the following programs installed:

• Microsoft Office Server Extensions (OSE)

• FrontPage Server Extensions

• Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV) protocol

You can also save data in a Microsoft Project file as a static HTML file that can be viewed on a Web server using the Save As Web Page command on the File menu.

Using data access pages in Microsoft Project Central

You can create data access pages in Microsoft Access to bind to Microsoft Project data using the Microsoft Project OLE DB provider. You can also use data access pages as additional views within Microsoft Project Central. For more information on creating data access page reports using data from Microsoft Project, see the file svretup.htm located on the Microsoft Project CD-ROM in the folder \Pjcentrl\HELP\1033\.

For more information on how to access Microsoft Project data through the Microsoft Project 2000 OLE DB Provider, see the file OLE_DB.htm located on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD-ROM in the folder \Pfiles\MSOffice\Office\1033\.

Note   Viewing and working with data access pages require Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later. Toolbox Sample data access pages that bind to Microsoft Project data are available in the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit Toolbox.

Microsoft Office Server Extensions

In addition to using the HTTP protocol to open and save documents, the OSE Start page gives users a logical starting place for browsing or searching for documents on a Web server.

Using Web subscriptions, you can be notified when a project file is modified.

Microsoft Project online Help

Microsoft Project 2000 online Help requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later, or the Windows Web Browsing components.

Microsoft Project Help will not work with Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or earlier.

Programming tools

Developers of VBA macros created in Microsoft Project can identify themselves to users by digitally signing the VBA project that contains their macros. When a macro is altered, the digital signature is automatically voided to indicate that the macro might have been tampered with.

Roaming user profiles

Traveling users (sometimes referred to as roaming users) move between different computers on a network. Through the use of roaming user profiles, traveling users can move between computers and take their application settings and working files with them, along with any system preferences.

Web features that require the Windows Desktop Update shell

Some features in Microsoft Project 2000 require a later version of the Windows Desktop Update shell than the shell that is shipped with Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or Windows 95. The following Microsoft Project 2000 features require the updated version of the Windows Desktop Update shell:

• Switching between files by using the Windows taskbar or by pressing ALT+TAB

• Using the Windows installer to advertise a program on the Windows Start menu

• Sending to the Windows Desktop from Web Folders

Two versions of the shell meet the Microsoft Project 2000 requirements: the version installed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 and the version installed with Window 98 or Windows 2000.

To ensure that features that depend on the Windows Desktop Update shell are available, administrators can install the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later shell by using the Internet Explorer Administrators Kit (IEAK) with the Custom Installation Wizard. This step is necessary only for computers running the Window 95 or Windows NT Workstation 4.0 operating system.

Web server support

Collaborating and sharing information are increasingly important elements of the day-to-day operations of organizations. Users must be able to find, work with, and exchange information easily with their co-workers and clients. Networks based on Web protocols are easy to install and administer, and they offer the promise of universal access to information in a heterogeneous client environment.

As a result, more organizations are relying on the Internet and corporate intranets as the infrastructure for their collaborative processes. Microsoft Project 2000 helps facilitate these trends with a new Web-based product, Microsoft Project Central.

In addition, Microsoft Project 2000 lets users manage files on a Web server by using Web folders and publish to Web servers from the Save As dialog box in Microsoft Project.

Microsoft Project Central

Microsoft Project Central is a companion product to Microsoft Project 2000. It enables collaborative planning among workgroup members, project managers, and other stakeholders. With Microsoft Project Central, project team members can exchange and work with project information at a Web site.

Anyone working with Microsoft Project Central needs a Microsoft Project Central client license; however only the project manager/administrator is required to have a Microsoft Project 2000 license when maintaining a Microsoft Project Central database. All users must use licensed copies of either Microsoft Project 2000 or Microsoft Project Central.

Microsoft Project Central was primarily designed for use on intranets. However, if you want to use Microsoft Project Central in an Internet setting, you need to change specific security settings within Microsoft Internet Explorer. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Security tab. Select the Internet icon, and then click Custom Level. In the Security Settings dialog box, under Access data sources across domains, select the Enable option. Also, see additional information on using Microsoft Project Central in an Internet environment in the file svrsetup.htm located on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD in the folder \Pjcentrl\Help\1033\.

For more information on installing and using Microsoft Project Central, see Part 6 – Microsoft Project Central of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

Web server components in Microsoft Office Server Extensions

You can save a Microsoft Project 2000 file on a Web server that has Microsoft Office Server Extensions (OSE) installed. You can install OSE on any Web server with one of the following configurations:

• Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 or later and Internet Information Server 4.0 (IIS)

• Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or later and Personal Web Server 4.0.

OSE allows Microsoft Project 2000 users to search and navigate documents published on Web servers. However, certain features, such as links between projects and resource sharing with a resource pool file, will not function correctly when projects are stored on an OSE Web server.

A Web site with OSE installed is called an OSE-extended Web. When you set up an OSE-extended Web, Microsoft Project 2000 users can work with documents on the server by using Web features installed on their computers.

Even if you do not install OSE on your Web server, users can still take advantage of some of the Web features included in Microsoft Project 2000. These features work with any Web server that runs Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions or any Web server that supports the Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV) Internet protocol. The following Microsoft Project 2000 features do not require OSE:

• Opening and saving files on Web servers from the Open and Save As dialog boxes (File menu) using the HTTP protocol.

• Browsing, publishing, and managing the folders and files on Web servers from the Web folders object in My Computer, Windows Explorer, and the Save As and Open dialog boxes (File menu) in Microsoft Project 2000.

Other Microsoft Web server components

In addition to IIS, Microsoft Windows NT Server also provides other components that complement enterprise intranets.

Microsoft Proxy Server

Every day more and more companies connect their internal networks to the Internet for a variety of reasons, such as increased productivity, customer service, and collaboration. Some of the biggest issues these organizations face as they extend their networks to the Internet are security, manageability, and cost. Microsoft Proxy Server offers firewall security, content caching, and management tools that help organizations address these issues effectively.

Microsoft Certificate Server

Microsoft Certificate Server is a general-purpose, customizable server application for managing digital certificates. It can be used in a variety of security applications, including verifying the identity of users and Web servers.

Microsoft Index Server

Microsoft Index Server allows users to perform full-text searches of Web server content to retrieve information in almost any format from any Web browser.

Microsoft Site Server

Designed to help you get the most out of your corporate intranet, Microsoft Site Server helps users publish, find, and share information quickly and easily. Features include extensive search capabilities and tools to perform thorough analyses of the usage and effectiveness of your intranet.

See also

You can deploy, customize, and maintain Internet Explorer by using the Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK). For more information about the IEAK, see the Internet Explorer Web site.

For more information on installing and using data access pages as views in Microsoft Project Central, see the file svrsetup.htm located on the Microsoft Project 2000 CD in the folder \Pjcentrl\Help\1033\.

For information about roaming user profiles, see Supporting Traveling Users in Part 2 – Deployment of the Microsoft Project Resource Kit.

For more information about Microsoft Proxy Server, see the Microsoft Proxy Server Web site.

For more information about Microsoft Site Server, see the Microsoft Site Server Web site.

Programming Technologies

Microsoft Project 2000 includes powerful new technologies and programming models that help developers build custom Microsoft Project solutions. Microsoft Project 2000 contains new tools and technologies that make it easy to develop and deliver custom Microsoft Project-based solutions. These new tools and technologies help users to gather, analyze, customize, publish, and share information.

Visual Basic for Applications

Automation is the Component Object Model (COM) technology that makes Microsoft Project 2000 programmable, which makes creating an integrated Microsoft Project solution possible. Automation (formerly called OLE Automation) includes the following features.

Automation exposes features in a hierarchy of programmable objects:  Applications, dynamic-link libraries (DLLs), and ActiveX controls that support the appropriate Automation interfaces expose their features as a set of programmable objects. Any application or service that supports these interfaces is called a COM component. The set of programmable objects that a COM component exposes is organized into a set of hierarchical relationships that is called an object model, or a programming model.

Automation allows applications to share features with other applications:  A COM component can be either an Automation server that shares its component objects with other applications or an Automation client that uses the component objects of other applications.

Visual Basic for Applications provides features that make it easy to use Automation:  When you use VBA code, you can establish a reference to the programming model of an Automation server by using the References dialog box (Tools menu). The reference allows your solution to allocate memory efficiently to work with the objects that the Automation server exposes. The reference also allows the Visual Basic Editor to assist you when you enter VBA statements by automatically listing relevant objects, properties, and methods from the referenced programming model. And you can use the Object Browser command (View menu) to examine how the objects that are exposed by the Automation server are related to each other, and to find more information about how to program the objects.

Automation servers and Automation clients

Microsoft Project 2000 developers can take advantage of all Automation features when developing custom solutions. Microsoft Project 2000 can function as COM components that expose most of their features to other applications that support Automation as programmable objects. Microsoft Project 2000 serves as both Automation server and Automation client. Microsoft Project incorporates the VBA programming environment that makes working with Automation easy.

Programmable applications

The VBA programming language and the Visual Basic Editor can be incorporated into Microsoft Project 2000 to make it programmable. 

In addition, many other applications incorporate the VBA programming environment and are written to expose their functionality to VBA programmers through Automation interfaces. This means that developers can use VBA to create solutions not only for Microsoft Project 2000, but also other applications that support VBA and Automation.

Programming across applications

VBA and Automation allow you to program Microsoft Project 2000. Developers can also use Automation to run other applications from within a client application. For example, a VBA solution developed in Microsoft Project 2000 can run a hidden instance of Excel to perform mathematical and analytical operations on Microsoft Project 2000 data.

Working with programmable services

Automation also allows developers to use VBA code to work with programming models that do the following:

• Function as free-standing services.

• Are independent of individual applications.

For example, Microsoft Project 2000 installs the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC), which consist of OLE DB components that provide low-level access to a variety of data sources and components that make up the ADO programming model. Because the ADO programming model supports Automation, you can use ADO from VBA code running in Microsoft Project 2000 to gain access to and work with any data source that is available through an OLE DB provider or an ODBC driver.

New programming features

The programming models of Microsoft Project 2000 expose new objects, methods, properties, and events. The VBA language also has new features.

Expanded event model

The Microsoft Project 2000 event model has been greatly expanded and now exposes eight project-level events and 14 application-level events.

In addition, Microsoft Project 2000 now exposes three command bar events: The CommandBarButton object has a click event, the CommandBarComboBox object has a change event, and the CommandBars collection object has an update event.

New VBA functions

Several new features make it easier to format data or to parse and manipulate strings. New VBA features include the following:

• Use FormatCurrency, FormatDateTime, FormatNumber, and FormatPercent functions to format data.

• Use the Split, Join, and Filter functions to parse strings. The Split function parses a string into an array of substrings. The Join function is the opposite of the Split function; it creates a string from an array of substrings. The Filter function filters an array and returns an array containing the elements that match the specified criteria.

• Use the new Replace and InStrRev functions to manipulate strings.

• Use the Round function to round a number to a specified number of decimal places.

In this latest version of VBA, you can also write functions that return arrays, and you can assign one array to another.

New VBA objects

Also new to VBA in Microsoft Project 2000 are the FileSystemObject and Dictionary objects. The Dictionary object is analogous to a VBA collection, except that the Dictionary object can hold objects of different data types. You can use the FileSystemObject object to work with the drives, directories, and files on your computer as if they were objects and collections of objects with methods and properties you can use to return information about your file system.

New custom object features

VBA also allows you to create your own objects. New to VBA in Microsoft Project 2000 is the ability to add custom events to objects that you create. In addition, you can now extend your custom objects by implementing interfaces.

See also

For more information about the VBA programming language and applications that support it, see the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Web site.

For more information about developing custom solutions by using Office applications and the VBA programming language, see the Office Developer Center Web site on MSDN and the Microsoft Office 2000/Visual Basic Programmers Guide.

Architecture for Add-ins

To customize previous versions of Microsoft Project, users relied heavily upon macros and Visual Basic scripts. Microsoft Project 2000 gives you a new way to provide users with a custom Microsoft Project 2000 solution: developing and distributing an add-in. An add-in extends an application by adding functionality that is not in the core product. For example, an add-in might add new menu commands or toolbar buttons that display custom forms to add new features to an application.

Microsoft Project 2000 supports the new add-in architecture called COM add-ins that allows developers to create a single add-in that can run in any application. VBA developers can create COM add-ins by using Office 2000 Developer. COM add-ins can also be created by developers using one of the following programming languages:

• Microsoft Visual Basic versions 5.0 or later

• Microsoft Visual C++

• Microsoft Visual J++

• Any language that can create COM components

This wide support for COM add-ins means that developers can now use multiple development environments to create custom solutions in Microsoft Project 2000. The only requirement to connect COM add-ins to Microsoft Project is for the add-in to implement the IDExtensibility2 interface. COM add-ins can be loaded when the host application starts, or they can be loaded on demand. Support has also been added to allow the OnAction property of a custom command bar button to load a COM add-in.

The following Microsoft Project 98 macros have been converted to add-ins for Microsoft Project 2000:

• PERT Analysis

• Analyze Timescaled Data

• Adjust Dates

A new COM add-in, the DB Upgrade Utility, is shipped with Microsoft Project 2000.

Additional COM add-ins for Microsoft Project 2000 will be made available at the Microsoft Download Center.

See also

For more information about creating COM add-ins, see the Microsoft Office 2000/Visual Basic Programmers Guide.