Excel Add-In for Microsoft Project

Build 24.0.9060

Establishing a Connection

Configure a Connection Profile

From the CData ribbon, click Get Data and select From Microsoft Project connection/s to launch the CData Query window. To setup a new connection, you will have to click the New Microsoft Project Connection button. Here you can set the connection settings, test the connection, and save the connection profile.

Connecting to Microsoft Project

To connect to the Microsoft Project data source, set these connection properties:

  • Url: A valid Microsoft Project Web App URL, such as http://contoso.com/sites/pwa/.
  • Schema: Either ODataV1 or ODataV2 (default). While ODataV2 can be used for full CRUD operations, ODataV1, which provides more granular data and exposes the custom fields, is superior for reporting purposes. For more information about the available functionality in each Schema, see Data Model.
  • ProjectId (optional): If the Schema is ODataV2, you can use this property to specify a default Project Id for all the operations that require one.

Authenticating to Microsoft Project

There are several authentication methods available for connecting to Microsoft Project, including the SharePoint Online Cookie Service, ADFS, OAuth, and SSO. The supported SSO identity providers are Azure AD, OneLogin, and OKTA.

SharePoint Online Cookie Service

To use your login credentials to connect to Microsoft Project on SharePoint Online, set the AuthScheme to SharePointOnlineCookies, User to your user login, and Password to your user login password.

OAuth

To enable this authentication from all Microsoft Project OAuth flows, you must create a custom OAuth application, and set AuthScheme to OAuth.

The following subsections describe how to authenticate to Microsoft Project from three common authentication flows. For information about how to create a custom OAuth application, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application. For a complete list of connection string properties available in Microsoft Project, see Connection.

Desktop Applications

To authenticate with the credentials for a custom OAuth application, you must get and refresh the OAuth access token. After you do that, you are ready to connect.

Get and refresh the OAuth access token:

  • InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was assigned when you registered your application.
  • CallbackURL: The redirect URI that was defined when you registered your application.

When you connect, the add-in opens Microsoft Project's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

When the access token expires, the add-in refreshes it automatically.

Automatic refresh of the OAuth access token:

To have the add-in automatically refresh the OAuth access token:

  1. Before connecting to data for the first time, set these connection parameters:
    • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
    • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your application settings.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in your application settings.
    • OAuthAccessToken: The access token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
    • OAuthSettingsLocation: The path where you want the add-in to save the OAuth values, which persist across connections.
  2. On subsequent data connections, set:
    • InitiateOAuth
    • OAuthSettingsLocation

Manual refresh of the OAuth access token:

The only value needed to manually refresh the OAuth access token is the OAuth refresh token.

  1. To manually refresh the OAuthAccessToken after the ExpiresIn period (returned by GetOAuthAccessToken) has elapsed, call the RefreshOAuthAccessToken stored procedure.
  2. Set these connection properties:

    • OAuthClientId: The Client Id in your application settings.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The Client Secret in your application settings.

  3. Call RefreshOAuthAccessToken with OAuthRefreshToken set to the OAuth refresh token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
  4. After the new tokens have been retrieved, set the OAuthAccessToken property to the value returned by RefreshOAuthAccessToken. This opens a new connection.

Store the OAuth refresh token so that you can use it to manually refresh the OAuth access token after it has expired.

ADFS

To connect to ADFS, set the AuthScheme to ADFS, and set these properties:

  • User: The ADFS user.
  • Password: The ADFS user's password.
  • SSOLoginURL: The SSO provider's login url.

Example connection string: 

AuthScheme=ADFS;User=username;Password=password;SSOLoginURL='https://sts.company.com';

ADFS Integrated

The ADFS Integrated flow indicates you are connecting with the currently logged in Windows user credentials. To use the ADFS Integrated flow, do not specify the User and Password, but otherwise follow the same steps in the ADFS guide above.

Supported SSO Providers

Okta

To connect to Okta, set the AuthScheme to Okta, and set these properties:

  • User: The Okta user.
  • Password: The Okta user's password.
  • SSOLoginURL: The SSO provider's login URL.

If you are using a trusted application or proxy that overrides the Okta client request OR configuring MFA, you must use combinations of SSOProperties to authenticate using Okta. Set any of the following, as applicable:

  • APIToken: When authenticating a user via a trusted application or proxy that overrides the Okta client request context, set this to the API Token the customer created from the Okta organization.
  • MFAType: If you have configured the MFA flow, set this to one of the following supported types: OktaVerify, Email, or SMS.
  • MFAPassCode: If you have configured the MFA flow, set this to a valid passcode.
    If you set this to empty or an invalid value, the add-in issues a one-time password challenge to your device or email. After the passcode is received, reopen the connection where the retrieved one-time password value is set to the MFAPassCode connection property.
  • MFARememberDevice: True by default. Okta supports remembering devices when MFA is required. If remembering devices is allowed according to the configured authentication policies, the add-in sends a device token to extend MFA authentication lifetime. If you do not want MFA to be remembered, set this variable to False.

Example connection string: 

AuthScheme=Okta;SSOLoginURL='https://example.okta.com/home/appType/0bg4ivz6cJRZgCz5d6/46';User=oktaUserName;Password=oktaPassword;

OneLogin

To connect to OneLogin, set the AuthScheme to OneLogin, and set these properties:

  • User: The OneLogin user.
  • Password: The OneLogin user's password.

To authenticate to OneLogin, set these SSOProperties:

  • OAuthClientId: The OAuthClientId, which can be obtained by selecting Developers > API Credentials > Credential > ClientId.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The OAuthClientSecret, which can be obtained by selecting Developers > API Credentials > Credential > ClientSecret.
  • Subdomain: The subdomain of the OneLogin user accessing the SSO application. For example, if your OneLogin URL is splinkly.onelogin.com, splinkly is the subdomain value.
  • AppId: The Id of the SSO application.
  • Region (optional): The region your OneLogin account resides in. Legal values are US (default) or EU.

The following example connection string uses an API key to connect to OneLogin: 

AuthScheme=OneLogin;User=OneLoginUserName;Password=OneLoginPassword;SSOProperties='OAuthClientID=3fc8394584f153ce3b7924d9cd4f686443a52b;OAuthClientSecret=ca9257fd5cc3277abb5818cea28c06fe9b3b285d73d06;Subdomain=OneLoginSubDomain;AppId=1433920';

Azure AD

This configuration requires two separate Azure AD applications:

  • The "Microsoft Project" application used for single sign-on, and
  • A custom OAuth application with user_impersonation permission on the "Microsoft Project" application. (See Creating a Custom OAuth Application.)

To connect to Azure AD, set the AuthScheme to AzureAD, and set these properties:

  • OAuthClientId: The application Id of the connector application, listed in the Overview section of the app registration.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret value of the connector application. Azure AD displays this when you create a new client secret.
  • CallbackURL: The redirect URI of the connector application. For example: https://localhost:33333.

To authenticate to Azure AD, set these SSOProperties:

  • Resource: The application Id URI of the Microsoft Project application, listed in the app registration's Overview section. In most cases this is the URL of your custom Microsoft Project domain.
  • AzureTenant: The Id of the Azure AD tenant where the applications are registered.

Example connection string: 

AuthScheme=AzureAD;OAuthClientId=3ea1c786-d527-4399-8c3b-2e3696ae4b48;OauthClientSecret=xxx;CallbackUrl=https://localhost:33333;SSOProperties='Resource=;AzureTenant=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx';

Connection Properties

The Connection properties describe the various options that can be used to establish a connection.

Managing Connections

After successfully authenticating to Microsoft Project you will be able to customize the data you are importing. To learn more about this, see Managing Connections.

See Also

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Build 24.0.9060