PowerShell Scripting to Replicate Microsoft Project Data to MySQL

The CData Cmdlets for Microsoft Project offer live access to Microsoft Project data from within PowerShell. Using PowerShell scripts, you can easily automate regular tasks like data replication. This article will walk through using the CData Cmdlets for Microsoft Project and the CData Cmdlets for MySQL in PowerShell to replicate Microsoft Project data to a MySQL database.

After obtaining the needed connection properties, accessing Microsoft Project data in PowerShell and preparing for replication consists of four basic steps.

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.

Collecting Microsoft Project Data

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module MicrosoftProjectCmdlets

2. Connect to Microsoft Project:

   $microsoftproject = Connect-MicrosoftProject -User $User -Password $Password -URL $URL

3. Retrieve the data from a specific resource:

   $data = Select-MicrosoftProject -Connection $microsoftproject -Table "Projects"

   You can also use the Invoke-MicrosoftProject cmdlet to execute pure SQL-92 statements:

   $data = Invoke-MicrosoftProject -Connection $microsoftproject -Query 'SELECT * FROM Projects WHERE ProjectName = @ProjectName' -Params @{'@ProjectName'='Tax Checker'}

4. Save a list of the column names from the returned data.

   $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name

Inserting Microsoft Project Data into the MySQL Database

With the data and column names collected, you are ready to replicate the data into a MySQL database.

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module MySQLCmdlets

2. Connect to MySQL, using the server address and port of the MySQL server, valid user credentials, and a specific database with the table in which the data will be replicated:

   $mysql = Connect-MySQL -User $User -Password $Password -Database $Database -Server $Server -Port $Port

3. Loop through the Microsoft Project data, store the values, and use the Add-MySQL cmdlet to insert the data into the MySQL database, one row at a time. In this example, the table will need to have the same name as the Microsoft Project resource (Projects) and to exist in the database.

   $data | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Projects" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

You have now replicated your Microsoft Project data to a MySQL database. This gives you freedom to work with Microsoft Project data in the same way that you work with other MySQL tables, whether that is performing analytics, building reports, or other business functions.

Notes

• Once you have connected to Microsoft Project and MySQL in PowerShell, you can pipe command results to perform the replication in a single line:

  Select-MicrosoftProject -Connection $microsoftproject -Table "Projects" | % { $row = $_ $values = @() $columns | % { $col = $_ $values += $row.$($col) } Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Projects" -Columns $columns -Values $values }

• If you wish to replicate the Microsoft Project data to another database using another PowerShell module, you will want to exclude the Columns, Connection, and Table columns from the data returned by the Select-MicrosoftProject cmdlet since those columns are used to help pipe data from one CData cmdlet to another:

  $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name | ? {$_ -NotIn @('Columns','Connection','Table')}