Programmatic Logon to Microsoft Project Server

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Before a client application can make method calls to the PDS, it must first log in to the Microsoft Project Server. Microsoft Project Server supports two methods of programmatic logon: Microsoft Windows® Integrated authentication, and Microsoft Project authentication.

Windows integrated authentication does not require explicit logon information to be sent with the logon request. A client calls the LgnIntAu.asp page to log in using Windows integrated authentication, as shown in the following Visual Basic example:

  Dim sURL As String

  sURL = "http://myserver/projectserver/LgnIntAu.asp"

  Dim oXMLDocument As DOMDocument30

  Set oXMLDocument = New DOMDocument30

  oXMLDocument.Load sURL

In this example, the Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML) is used to make the logon request. Although not required, the parser makes it easier to retrieve the security cookie needed to make PDS method calls.

To use Microsoft Project authentication, the previous code would be modified to use the following URL:

  sURL = "http://myserver/projectserver/LgnPSAu.asp"

  sURL = sURL & "?un=Administrator&pwd="

Notice that the Microsoft Project logon information is passed in the query string.

The key information needed from a successful logon is in the PDS security cookie. The following code shows how to use the MSXML parser to extract this cookie:

  'Wait for the XML Document to load from Microsoft Project Server

  Const cTimeout As Long = 45

  Dim startTime As Long, elapsed As Long

  startTime = Timer

  Do While oXMLDocument.readyState < 4

      DoEvents

      elapsed = Timer - startTime

      'cTime is a constant set to number of seconds to wait for timeout

  If elapsed > cTimeout Then GoTo errTimeout

  Loop

  Dim sCookie As String

  Dim oNode As IXMLDOMNode

  If oXMLDocument.parseError.errorCode = 0 Then

  If Not oXMLDocument Is Nothing Then

  Set oNode = oXMLDocument.selectSingleNode("Reply/Cookie")

  If Not oNode Is Nothing Then

              sCookie = oNode.Text

          End If

      End If

  Else

      sCookie = ""

  End If

  errTimeout:

  MsgBox prompt:="Login Timeout Occurred." & vbCrLf & "Elapsed time = " _

      & elapsed & " seconds" & vbCrLf & "xmlDocument.ReadyState = " & _

      oXMLDocument.readyState, Title:="Login Timeout"

  MsgBox prompt:=oXMLDocument.xml

This code waits for the Microsoft Project Server response (in this example, the application will time out after 45 seconds). If logon is successful, an XML response is returned, similar to the following example:

  <?xml version="1.0"?>

     <Reply>

        <HRESULT>0</HRESULT>

        <Cookie>

        <![CDATA[svc={D8D06337-9C12-466D-84BF-57767FEDF8AD}

        &session={CCB39B94-A3D8-4C0B-AFA1-49604AF6C3D9}

        &prxy={EFBA0018-337F-4A35-9454-E7E1155F92A4}

        &org=projectserver]]>

     </Cookie>

  </Reply>

The parser's selectSingleNode method allows you to easily extract the security cookie into a string. This cookie string is then passed into subsequent calls to the SoapXMLRequest method (see "Using SOAP to call PDS Methods").