Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on Microsoft Project Data

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Python Connector for MS Project, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build Microsoft Project-connected web applications for Microsoft Project data. This article shows how to connect to Microsoft Project with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing Microsoft Project data.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Microsoft Project data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Microsoft Project, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Microsoft Project and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Microsoft Project Data

Connecting to Microsoft Project data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Microsoft Project user credentials. In addition, you will need to specify a URL to a valid Microsoft Project server organization root or Microsoft Project services file.

After installing the CData Microsoft Project Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing Microsoft Project through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the required modules and frameworks:

pip install pandas
pip install dash
pip install dash-daq

Visualize Microsoft Project Data in Python

Once the required modules and frameworks are installed, we are ready to build our web app. Code snippets follow, but the full source code is available at the end of the article.

First, be sure to import the modules (including the CData Connector) with the following:

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.microsoftproject as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData Microsoft Project Connector to create a connection for working with Microsoft Project data.

cnxn = mod.connect("User=myuseraccount;Password=mypassword;URL=http://myserver/myOrgRoot;")

Execute SQL to Microsoft Project

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the result set in a DataFrame.

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT ProjectName, ProjectActualCost FROM Projects WHERE ProjectName = 'Tax Checker'", cnxn)

Configure the Web App

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, we can begin configuring the web app, assigning a name, stylesheet, and title.

app_name = 'dash-microsoftprojectedataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'

Configure the Layout

The next step is to create a bar graph based on our Microsoft Project data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.ProjectName, y=df.ProjectActualCost, name='ProjectName')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='Microsoft Project Projects Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, we are ready to run the app. The last lines of Python code follow.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Now, use Python to run the web app and a browser to view the Microsoft Project data.

python microsoftproject-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for MS Project to start building Python apps with connectivity to Microsoft Project data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.microsoftproject as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("User=myuseraccount;Password=mypassword;URL=http://myserver/myOrgRoot;")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT ProjectName, ProjectActualCost FROM Projects WHERE ProjectName = 'Tax Checker'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-microsoftprojectdataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'
trace = go.Bar(x=df.ProjectName, y=df.ProjectActualCost, name='ProjectName')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='Microsoft Project Projects Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)