Generally, you do not want to refresh calculated fields from the work item database. For example, start and finish dates are typically calculated based on task duration and dependencies. If a team member were to change the start date of a task in Team Explorer, the change could introduce errors in Microsoft Project when the field is refreshed. Therefore you can configure calculated fields so that they are publish only; meaning Microsoft Project will publish changes for those fields to the work item database, but not update them. For more information about how to configure fields as publish only, see How to: Change How Fields are Mapped to Microsoft Project.

You can also prevent team members from changing calculated field values in Team Explorer by using the READONLY attribute in the work item form definition. For more information about the READONLY attribute, see All Work Item <FORM> Elements.

Note
The MSF for Agile Software Development and MSF for CMMI Process Improvement process templates already configure the start and finish dates as publish only mappings, and read-only in Team Explorer.

When Team Foundation publishes tasks from Microsoft Project, the field data is copied from Microsoft Project to the work item database. Also, when tasks are refreshed, the field data is copied from the work item database to Microsoft Project. For the field data to be copied correctly, the field type in the work item database, and the field type in Microsoft Project must be compatible. The following table lists which Microsoft Project field types are compatible with the individual work item field types:

For more information about work item field types, see Field Types. For more information about Microsoft Project field types, see the help about the pjField constant in the Microsoft Office 2003 Software Development Kit.

In Microsoft Project you can map any field name that begins with pjtask. For example, you can map pjTaskText10 to a String field in Team Foundation. These field names are used in the ProjectField attribute when you specify which work item field maps to a Microsoft Project field. For a complete list of the Microsoft Project field names, see the help about the pjField constant in the Microsoft Office 2003 Software Development Kit.

Note   If you are using Microsoft Project Server, there are additional fields with "Enterprise" in the name, such as pjTaskEnterpriseCost1. Team Foundation does not publish or refresh data to Microsoft Project Server, therefore these field names are not supported.

Tasks

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