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MSProject - error opening exported XML file
Posted on 2012-03-21
I exported a large (4,000 tasks) mpp to xml and when I attempt to open it with Project I get the error "An unexpected error occurred... The file may be damaged." I tried exporting it several times but get the same error each time. I don't see anything obvious in the xml, but it is huge and something could be lurking someplace that's not apparent. Does anybody have any ideas?
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2 Comments
We have to discover what is failing: the export or the import part of the process.
There are several open source programs to check if a XML file is valid. If the XML file is found to be invalid, you know there is a bug in the export process.
If you are not afraid of command line interfaces (this has future, also in MS environments), xmllint can be a good tool to validate XML.
There are several open source programs to check if a XML file is valid. If the XML file is found to be invalid, you know there is a bug in the export process.
If you are not afraid of command line interfaces (this has future, also in MS environments), xmllint can be a good tool to validate XML.
The problem turns out to be the formatting of the exported xml, which in turn is due to some stray characters in various mpp fields. When I open the xml in Excel it gives me the offset of the offending character, then I open the xml in HxD, go to the offset, and fix the xml. There are numerous errors, which I have to identify and fix one at a time. The file is enormous, so this is going to take a while, but I think it will ultimately work. I can also use the results of this exercise to go back and fix the mpp. Thanks for your comments.
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