Querying OData feeds for Project reporting data

Article
09/08/2016

To read reporting data in Project Server 2013, there are multiple ways to do OData queries of the ProjectData service. The Business Intelligence Center in Project Web App includes a Data Connections page, where you can choose the Office Data Connection (ODC) for Project Server OData reporting. Choosing the default ODC opens an Excel 2013 workbook, where you can create pivot tables, pivot charts, and PowerView reports. There are several default reports that are included with Project Server 2013.

You can create custom apps that are developed by using the Microsoft .NET Framework 4, such as apps for on-premises reporting or remote reporting, or a Silverlight Web Part. For a Windows Phone app, you can use the LINQ query syntax in Visual C# statements, Visual Basic statements, or other .NET Framework languages. If you prefer, you can use Lambda syntax with LINQ methods to do the same queries. For apps that you develop for the web or for other devices, you can use REST queries or JavaScript statements.

The Project 2013 SDK download includes the HelloProject_OData sample Office Add-in, which uses a REST query with JavaScript and jQuery to summarize information from the ProjectData service in a task pane within Project Professional 2013.

Many third-party tools and OData consumer applications are available that can help you to quickly create and test queries. You can paste a REST URL in a browser and view the data in the page source or in a web debugging tool such as Fiddler (http://www.fiddler2.com). For links to tools such as OData Explorer and LINQPad, choose Consumers in the Open Data Protocol ecosystem (https://msopentech.com/odataorg/ecosystem).

For more information about OData queries in SharePoint 2013, see Use OData query operations in SharePoint REST requests.

Creating REST queries

The XML content of an Entity Data Model is also known as a Service Metadata Document or an OData schema. The Service Metadata Document for the ProjectData service specifies the entities and relationships that are available in the Project Server reporting data. Procedure 1 shows how to use the OData schema for the ProjectData service to help create REST queries of the Project Server reporting data.

Procedure 1. To use the OData schema and create REST queries of Project Server reporting data

The URL of the ProjectData service is https://ServerName/ProjectServerName/_api/ProjectData. For example, if your Project Web App site is http://MyServer/pwa, to get the Service Metadata Document, enter the following URL in a browser: http://MyServer/pwa/_api/ProjectData/$metadata.
Save the XML data in a file; for example, save as a file named ProjectData.xml. The ReportingData Schema element contains EntityType elements and Association elements. The ReportingData EntityContainer element contains EntitySet elements and AssociationSet elements.
To format the ProjectData.xml file for easier reading, open the file in Visual Studio, choose Advanced on the Edit menu, and then choose Format Document. Or, choose the Format Document icon on the XML Editor toolbar.
To directly show the XML data from REST queries in your browser, turn off the feed reading view. For example, in Internet Explorer, do the following steps:
1. Open the Internet Options dialog box.
2. Choose the Content tab.
3. In the Feeds and Web Slices section, choose Settings.
4. In the Advanced section of the Feed and Web Slice Settings dialog box, clear the Turn on feed reading view check box.
5. Choose OK, and then restart Internet Explorer.
To get the list of EntitySet elements, which are the primary entity collections that are available in the ProjectData service, use the following URL in the browser: https://ServerName/ProjectServerName/_api/ProjectData

In the XML result, for example, the collection elements show that you can directly query for Projects and for ProjectBaselines.
```
<collection href="Projects">
  <atom:title>Projects</atom:title> 
</collection>
<collection href="ProjectBaselines">
  <atom:title>ProjectBaselines</atom:title> 
</collection>
```
For more information about those entity sets, see EntitySet element: Projects and EntitySet element: ProjectBaselines.
To get the collection of projects, and the associations and properties of each project, use https://ServerName/ProjectServerName/_api/ProjectData/Projects.
To get the associations and properties of a specific project, specify the primary key of the Project entity type (see the Key element in EntityType element: Project). For example, the ProjectId property is the primary key of the Project entity. ProjectId is of type Edm.Guid. The query for a specific project can be expressed as https://ServerName/ProjectServerName/_api/ProjectData/Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208').

The link elements in the XML results show the URL extensions for the associations of that project. For example, the href attributes in the following link elements show how to get the collection of assignments and tasks in the project.
```
<link rel="https://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/related/Assignments"
    type="application/atom+xml;type=feed" 
    title="Assignments" href="Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/Assignments" />
. . .
<link rel="https://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/related/Tasks" 
    type="application/atom+xml;type=feed" 
    title="Tasks" href="Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/Tasks" />
. . .
```
The EntityType element: Project reference topic lists all the associations and properties that are available for the Project entity type. For example, the query results include the actual start date and the number of hours of actual work completed on the project, as follows:
```
. . .
<content type="application/xml">
  <m:properties>
    <d:ProjectId m:type="Edm.Guid">263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208</d:ProjectId>
    . . .
    <d:ProjectActualStartDate m:type="Edm.DateTime">2012-04-02T08:00:00</d:ProjectActualStartDate>
    <d:ProjectActualWork m:type="Edm.Decimal">32.000000</d:ProjectActualWork>
    . . .
  </m:properties>
</content>
```
To query for a single property of the project, for example the project name, use the following query: https://ServerName/ProjectServerName/_api/ProjectData/Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/ProjectName

To query for multiple properties of the project, for example the project name, project cost, and project currency, use the following query: https://ServerName/ProjectServerName/_api/ProjectData/Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')?$select=ProjectName,ProjectCost,ProjectCurrency. The results include:

<id>https://ServerName/ProjectServerName/_api/ProjectData
    /Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')</id>
<category term="ReportingData.Project" scheme="https://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/scheme" />
<link rel="edit" title="Project" href="Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')" />
. . .
<content type="application/xml">
  <m:properties>
    <d:ProjectCost m:type="Edm.Decimal">3600.000000</d:ProjectCost>
    <d:ProjectCurrency>USD</d:ProjectCurrency>
    <d:ProjectName>My project name</d:ProjectName>
  </m:properties>
</content>

Because one of the NavigationProperty elements in EntityType element: Project uses the Association element: Project_Tasks_Task_Project relationship, you can use the following query to get all of the tasks in the project: https://ServerName/ProjectServerName/_api/ProjectData/Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/Tasks. The results include the link elements for the entity associations of each task, and the properties of each task. The project summary task is the first task in the results, where TaskIndex = 0.

In a query that starts with a project, the XML result shows both a primary key and a foreign key for each task association. For example, the XML data includes the association for a specific task and the association for the assignments in that task. In the following XML results of the query, ProjectId is the primary key, and TaskId is the foreign key. The EntityType element: Task topic shows both keys.
```
. . .
<link rel="edit" title="Task" 
    href="Tasks(ProjectId=guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208', 
    TaskId=guid'3631bf8b-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')" />
<link rel="https://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/related/Assignments" 
    type="application/atom+xml;type=feed" title="Assignments" 
    href="Tasks(ProjectId=guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208', 
    TaskId=guid'3631bf8b-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/Assignments" />
. . .
```

You can walk the entity data model by using REST queries. Each EntityType element in the ReportingData Schema element lists the properties and associations that are available for that entity.

In addition to the basic queries, you can use query string options such as $select, $skip, $top, $filter, and $orderby. The $links query option and the $expand query option are not implemented in the ProjectData service. For more information, see Query String Options in the Odata.org documentation.

Note

The ProjectData service implements paging for the entity sets, to limit the number of entities that can be returned in one query. You can use the Get-SPProjectOdataConfiguration command or the Set-SPProjectOdataConfiguration command in the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell to get or set the limits for a specified entity such as Tasks, or for all 33 entities. For more information, see ProjectData - OData service reference.

Following are several more examples of REST queries (the examples do not show the first part of the URL, which is https://ServerName/ProjectServerName/_api/ProjectData):

Get all of the assignments in the Project Web App instance: ~/Assignments

Note

For queries that can return a large amount of data, you can reduce the data by using a $filter URL option. For other ways to limit the amount of data, see ProjectData - Project OData service reference.
To get all the assignments in a specific project, either of the following queries does the same job:

~/Assignments?$filter=ProjectId eq guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208'

OR

~/Assignments?$filter=ProjectName eq 'My project name'

ProjectId is the primary key for the Assignment entity, but the $filter option can use any property of the Assignment entity.
Here is another query to get the assignments in a specific project: ~/Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/Assignments
Get the resource name for a specific assignment: ~/Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/Assignments(ProjectId=guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208',AssignmentId=guid'a0eafeb5-437c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/ResourceName
Because the NavigationProperty elements relate to an Association element that has two endpoints, you can also navigate backward by using a REST URL. For example, to get the project for a specific assignment, either of the following queries does the same job:

~/Assignments(ProjectId=guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208',AssignmentId=guid'a0eafeb5-437c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/Project

OR

~/Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/Assignments(ProjectId=guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208',AssignmentId=guid'a0eafeb5-437c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208')/Project

Note

Because some browsers use a default value of about 2,000 characters for the maximum URL length, a browser may limit REST queries of the ProjectData service to returning an item (a property or a collection) up to two collection steps from parent to child. For example, a two-step query of Projects to Tasks can be expressed as ~/Projects(projectId)/Tasks(projectId, taskId)/Assignments. That query gets the collection of assignments in a specified project and task.

But, a three-step query to get a specified assignment item may exceed the default maximum URL length. For example, ~/Projects(projectId)/Tasks(projectId, taskId)/Assignments(assignmentId, projectId,) may not work. For a shorter URL to get a specific assignment or an assignment property, use a one-step or two-step query such as ~/Assignments(projectId, assignmentId) or ~/Tasks(projectId, taskId)/Assignments(projectId, assignmentId)/ResourceName.

Alternately, you can increase the maxUrlLength attribute value in the httpRuntime element of the web.config file for Project Web App (in the [Program Files]\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\WebServices\Shared\ProjectServer\PSI directory). For more information, see httpRuntime Element (ASP.NET Settings Schema).

Creating LINQ queries

Procedure 2 shows how to create LINQ queries in Visual C# by using expressions in the declarative LINQ query syntax and by using method syntax with lambda expressions. You can use Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Studio 2012.

Procedure 2. To create a simple application for LINQ queries of Project Server reporting data

Create a Visual Studio project that uses the Windows Console Application template. Select the target .NET Framework 4. For example, create a project named TestProjectData.
Add a service reference to the ProjectData service, which has the address https://ServerName/ProjectServername/_api/ProjectData/$metadata. In the Add Service Reference dialog box, choose Go to resolve the address, select the ReportingData service, and then name the service reference namespace. For example, name the namespace ProjectOData. If you expand the ReportingData node, you can see all the entity sets that are defined in the ProjectData service (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Setting an OData service reference

Visual Studio adds the necessary System.Data.Services.Client reference when you create the ProjectOData service reference.

Add the following code to the Program.cs file. The context variable is initialized with the metadata in the ProjectData EDM, which you established by adding the ProjectOData service reference.

The projectQuery1 variable is set to a LINQ query expression for projects, where the project start date is later than January 1, 2012, and the output is ordered by project name. The projectQuery1 variable is of type IOrderedQueryable<ProjectOData.Project>.

The projectQuery2 variable produces the same query results, by using lambda expressions. The projectQuery2 variable is of type IQueryable<ProjectOData.Project>. The .NET Framework internally converts projectQuery1 to use the method syntax of projectQuery2.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Text;
using System.Data.Services.Client;

namespace TestProjectData
{
    class Program
    {
        private const string PSDATA = "https://ServerName/ProjectServername/_api/ProjectData";

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            ProjectOData.ReportingData context = 
                new ProjectOData.ReportingData(new Uri(PSDATA, UriKind.Absolute));
            context.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

            var projectQuery1 = from p in context.Projects
                                where p.ProjectStartDate > new DateTime(2012, 1, 1)
                                orderby p.ProjectName
                                select p;

            Console.WriteLine("Using declarative LINQ query syntax:\n");
            foreach (ProjectOData.Project proj in projectQuery1)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(proj.ProjectName + " :\tStart date: " + proj.ProjectStartDate.ToString());
            }

            var projectQuery2 = context.Projects
                                   .Where(p => (p.ProjectStartDate > new DateTime(2012, 1, 1)))
                                   .OrderBy(p => p.ProjectName)
                                   .Select(p => p);

            Console.WriteLine("\n\nUsing lambda expressions for a LINQ query:\n");
            foreach (ProjectOData.Project proj in projectQuery2)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(proj.ProjectName + " :\tStart date: " + proj.ProjectStartDate.ToString());
            }

            Console.Write("\nPress any key to exit: ");
            Console.ReadKey(true);
        }
    }
}

Set a breakpoint after initializing the projectQuery1 variable, and run the application. Internally, Visual Studio converts the query first to OData method syntax with lambda expressions, and then to a REST query for the OData service. Following is the REST query for projectQuery1 (all on one line):
```
https://ServerName/ProjectServerName/_api/ProjectData/Projects()
    ?$filter=ProjectStartDate gt datetime'2012-01-01T00:00:00'
    &$orderby=ProjectName}
```

When you run the TestProjectData application, the console shows the following output for three sample projects that are published in Project Web App:

Using declarative LINQ query syntax:

Imported from SharePoint :      Start date: 4/2/2012 8:00:00 AM
Test Proj 1 :   Start date: 4/5/2012 12:00:00 AM
WinProj test 1 :     Start date: 4/1/2012 8:00:00 AM

Using lambda expressions for a LINQ query:

Imported from SharePoint :      Start date: 4/2/2012 8:00:00 AM
Test Proj 1 :   Start date: 4/5/2012 12:00:00 AM
WinProj test 1 :     Start date: 4/1/2012 8:00:00 AM

Press any key to exit:

Because the ProjectData service does not implement the $links query option or the $expand query option, you cannot directly query one entity type as a child of another entity type. For example, to get the tasks in a project, you cannot use the Projects entity set in an expression such as context.Projects(guid'263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208').Tasks. You can get the tasks in a project by using the Tasks entity set, for example:

var taskQuery = context.Tasks
                        .Where(t => (t.ProjectId == 
                            new Guid("263fc8d7-427c-e111-92fc-00155d3ba208")))
                        .OrderBy(t => t.TaskIndex)
                        .Select(t => t);

Querying for custom fields

When you set a service reference to ProjectData, or query ~/ProjectData/$metadata, the Entity Data Model (EDM, or OData schema) includes custom field properties at the time the reference is made. For example, the default custom fields in Project Web App include the RBS text custom field for the Resource entity, the Health custom field for the Task entity, and the Project Departments custom field for the Project entity. Because RBS and Health roll down to assignments, the Assignment entity includes the Health_T property and the RBS_R property, as follows:

<EntityType Name="Assignment">
  . . .
  <Property Name="Health_T" Type="Edm.String" />
  <Property Name="RBS_R" Type="Edm.String" />
  . . .
</EntityType>
<EntityType Name="Project">
    . . .
    <Property Name="ProjectDepartments" Type="Edm.String" />
    . . .
</EntityType>
<EntityType Name="Resource">
    . . .
    <Property Name="RBS" Type="Edm.String" />
    . . .
</EntityType>
<EntityType Name="Task">
    . . .
    <Property Name="Health" Type="Edm.String" />
    . . .
</EntityType>

If the custom field name includes one or more spaces, such as Project Departments, the ProjectDepartments property name omits the spaces. When you create a custom field, the custom field property is added to the entity type. For example, create the custom fields shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Custom fields to create for testing

Custom field name	Entity	Type	Roll down to assignments
Test Proj Text	Project	Text	N/A
Test Res Dur	Resource	Duration	Yes
Test Task Text	Task	Text	Yes

If you refresh the ~/ProjectData/$metadata query, the EDM now includes properties for the new custom fields.

<EntityType Name="Assignment">
    . . .
    <Property Name="Health_T" Type="Edm.String" />
    <Property Name="RBS_R" Type="Edm.String" />
    <Property Name="TestResDur_R" Type="Edm.Decimal" />
    <Property Name="TestTaskText_T" Type="Edm.String" />
    . . .
</EntityType>
<EntityType Name="Project">
    . . .
    <Property Name="ProjectDepartments" Type="Edm.String" />
    <Property Name="TestProjText" Type="Edm.String" />
    . . .
</EntityType>
<EntityType Name="Resource">
    . . .
    <Property Name="RBS" Type="Edm.String" />
    <Property Name="TestResDur" Type="Edm.Decimal" />
    . . .
</EntityType>
<EntityType Name="Task">
    . . .
    <Property Name="Health" Type="Edm.String" />
    <Property Name="TestTaskText" Type="Edm.String" />
    . . .
</EntityType>

Important

When you create an enterprise custom field, a service reference or EDM that you previously made from a metadata query does not contain the new custom field properties. You must refresh the service reference or the ~/ProjectData/$metadata query to get the new properties.

Open the Resource Center in Project Web App, edit a resource, and then set the value of the Test Res Dur custom field to 3d. Create a query for the custom field value (replace the ResourceId property with the GUID for your resource), for example: ~/ProjectData/Resources(guid'4941e174-1596-e111-b0b9-00155d144b20')/TestResDur. The XML result shows the duration in working hours, as follows:

<d:TestResDur xmlns:d="https://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices" 
    xmlns:m="https://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/metadata" 
    m:type="Edm.Decimal">24</d:TestResDur>