MSP Error "An Import Error Occurred..." on extended attribute

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Article ID: 141462

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Updated On:

Products

Clarity PPM On Premise Clarity PPM SaaS

Issue/Introduction

This issue happens if if a text field in Clarity has a second line manually created. Microsoft Project (MSP) Interface Error:

An Import Error Occured. The element <ExtendedAttribute> in the <Task> element with <UID> = 10 has invalid data. 

STEPS TO REPRODUCE: 

  1. Create a custom string field on the Task object, presence required with display type of Text Area
    • After creating the attribute, to change the display type to Text Area
    • On the Tasks object, click on the Views tab
    • Click Fields next to Task Properties
    • Click on the properties tab next to the Attribute created above
    • Change Display Type to ‘Text Area’ and click Save and Return
  2. Map the new attribute to MSP as a Text field
    • Go to Administration->Project Management->MSP Field Mapping
    • Click New and enter the below information
      • Object Type = Task
      • Data Operation = Import and Export
      • PPM Attribute ID = ID assigned in step 1
      • MSP Field Name = Text8 (Or another text field not in use)
    • Click Save And Return
  3. Create a new project
  4. Go to the Tasks tab and click New
  5. Enter required fields and click Save
  6. In the custom text field created, type "test", then click Enter/Return on the keyboard to create a new line and type "comment"
  7. Click Save and Return
  8. Attempt to open the project in MSP

Expected Results: Project opens successfully

Actual Results: Project does not open, and instead an error is generated similar to the following: “An Import Error Occured. The element <ExtendedAttribute> in the <Task> element with <UID> = 10 has invalid data.”

(Where <UID> = the task’s Unique ID for MSP)

Cause

This issue is due to Microsoft Project design - multi-lines are not allowed in text fields in MSP, only in the Notes field

Environment

Release : All Supported Releases

Component : CLARITY MICROSOFT PROJECT (MSP)

Resolution

Delete any line breaks in the text field from the task in Clarity

To Identify which task(s) and field are causing the issue:

  1. Enable XML Debugging (See XML, MPP and MSP Logs for Troubleshooting MSP Issues for steps)
  2. Attempt to open the project in MSP
  3. Note the <UID> mentioned in the import error
  4. Open the XML file and do a find for <UID>10 (or the UID number displayed in the error message)
  5. If unsure which extended attribute is causing the issue for the task, look through the extended attributes section for the task to find one with text data with string codes similar to the following: test&#x000D;&#x000A;comment
  6. Note the task name in the XML related to that UID and find the task in Clarity
  7. Update the values in the string field in clarity so that there are no line breaks, all data is one string of data with no lines created using the Return/Enter option on the keyboard

Additional Information

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