xerparser 0.4.1

Parse a P6 .xer file to a Python object.

xerparser

A simple Python package that reads the contents of a P6 .xer file and converts it into a Python object.

Disclaimers:
It's helpfull if you are already familiar with the mapping and schemas used by P6 during the export process. Refer to the Oracle Documentation for more information regarding how data is mapped to the XER format.
Tested on .xer files exported as versions 15.2 through 19.12.

Install

Windows:

pip install xerparser

Linux/Mac:

pip3 install xerparser

Usage

Import the Xer class from xerparser and pass the contents of a .xer file as an argument. Use the Xer class variable CODEC to set the proper encoding to decode the file.

from xerparser import Xer

file = r"/path/to/file.xer"
with open(file, encoding=Xer.CODEC, errors="ignore") as f:
    file_contents = f.read()
xer = Xer(file_contents)

Note: do not pass the the .xer file directly as an argument. The file must be decoded and read into a string, which can then be passed as an argument.

Attributes

The tables stored in the .xer file are accessable as either Global , Project specific, Task specific, or Resource specific:

Global

xer.export_info       # export data
xer.errors            # list of potential errors in export process
xer.calendars         # dict of CALENDAR objects
xer.financial_periods # dict of FINDATES objects
xer.notebook_topics   # dict of MEMOTYPE objects
xer.projects          # dict of PROJECT objects
xer.resources         # dict of RSRC objectrs

Project Specific

# Get first project
project = xer.projects.values()[0]

project.calendars       # set of CALENDAR objects used by project
project.tasks           # dict of TASK objects
project.relationships   # dict of TASKPRED objects
project.wbs             # dict of PROJWBS objects

Task Specific

# Get first task
task = project.tasks.values()[0]

task.memos        # list of TASKMEMO objects
task.resources    # dict of TASKRSRC objects
task.periods      # list of TASKFIN objects

Resource Specific

# Get first task resource
resource = task.resources.values()[0]

resource.periods  # list of TRSRCFIN objects

Error Checking

Sometimes the xer file is corrupted during the export process. A list of potential errors is generated based on common issues encountered when analyzing .xer files:

• Minimum required tables - an error is recorded if one of the following tables is missing:

  • CALENDAR
  • PROJECT
  • PROJWBS
  • TASK
  • TASKPRED

• Required table pairs - an error is recorded if Table 1 is included but not Table 2:

  Table 1	Table 2	Notes
  TASKFIN	FINDATES	Financial Period Data for Task
  TRSRCFIN	FINDATES	Financial Period Data for Task Resource
  TASKRSRC	RSRC	Resource Data
  TASKMEMO	MEMOTYPE	Notebook Data
  ACTVCODE	ACTVTYPE	Activity Code Data
  TASKACTV	ACTVCODE	Activity Code Data

• Non-existent calendars assigned to activities.