Highlighting overallocated resources in PDFs is a great way to surface scheduling risks in your Microsoft Project data. When working with Aspose.Tasks for .NET, missed highlights usually come from choosing the wrong output view, not recalculating the project, or exporting without a purpose‑built report. This guide shows a reliable path that works on large projects and avoids common pitfalls.

Key Takeaways

  • Use the built‑in Overallocated Resources report to generate a PDF that clearly flags problem resources.
  • Set CalculationMode = Automatic (or call Recalculate()) before exporting so overallocation flags are fresh.
  • For detailed workload context, also export the Resource Usage view to PDF with a daily timescale.
  • Large files: pre‑filter data and tune page settings to reduce page count and export time.

Why highlighting fails (and how to fix it)

  1. Stale calculations — overallocation flags are computed values. Ensure the project is recalculated before export.
  2. Wrong output — general views (e.g., plain Gantt) won’t show overallocation indicators. Use the Overallocated Resources report or Resource Usage/Resource Sheet views.
  3. Clipped content — default page size/timescale can make PDFs huge. Use tighter timescales and page settings.

Complete, Compilable Example (C#)

using System;
using Aspose.Tasks;
using Aspose.Tasks.Saving;
using Aspose.Tasks.Visualization;

namespace TasksPdfHighlight
{
    internal static class Program
    {
        // How to run:
        // 1) dotnet new console -n TasksPdfHighlight
        // 2) cd TasksPdfHighlight
        // 3) dotnet add package Aspose.Tasks
        // 4) Replace Program.cs with this file's contents
        // 5) dotnet run -- "path-to-input.mpp"
        private static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            if (args.Length == 0)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Usage: dotnet run -- <path-to-input.mpp>");
                return;
            }

            string input = args[0];

            // 1) Load the project
            var project = new Project(input)
            {
                // Keep calculations up to date so overallocation flags are reliable
                CalculationMode = CalculationMode.Automatic
            };

            // Optional explicit refresh (useful if CalculationMode was Manual/None earlier)
            project.Recalculate();

            // 2) Export the built-in Overallocated Resources report (purpose-built for this task)
            string reportPdf = "OverallocatedResources.pdf";
            project.SaveReport(reportPdf, ReportType.OverallocatedResources);
            Console.WriteLine($"Saved: {reportPdf}");

            // 3) (Optional) Also render Resource Usage view for day-by-day context
            var usageOptions = new PdfSaveOptions
            {
                PresentationFormat = PresentationFormat.ResourceUsage,
                Timescale = Timescale.Days,
                FitContent = true,
                ReduceFooterGap = true
            };

            string usagePdf = "ResourceUsage.pdf";
            project.Save(usagePdf, usageOptions);
            Console.WriteLine($"Saved: {usagePdf}");

            // 4) Quick console summary: list resources with any overallocated assignments
            foreach (var ra in project.ResourceAssignments)
            {
                if (ra.Overallocated)
                {
                    string resName = ra.Resource?.Get(Rsc.Name) ?? "(Unnamed Resource)";
                    string taskName = ra.Task?.Get(Tsk.Name) ?? "(Unnamed Task)";
                    Console.WriteLine($"OVERALLOCATED: Resource='{resName}' on Task='{taskName}'");
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

How to run

  1. dotnet new console -n TasksPdfHighlight
  2. cd TasksPdfHighlight
  3. dotnet add package Aspose.Tasks
  4. Replace Program.cs with the code above.
  5. dotnet run -- "path-to-input.mpp"

What the code does

  • Loads your .mpp file and enables automatic calculation to ensure flags are accurate.
  • Exports a clear, one‑page‑per‑report Overallocated Resources PDF designed to call out problem resources.
  • Optionally renders the Resource Usage view as a second PDF to inspect day‑by‑day workload distribution.
  • Prints a quick summary of any overallocated assignments to the console.

Troubleshooting & performance tips

  • PDF is very large: use Timescale = Timescale.Months for broad summaries or shorten the project date range.
  • Missing highlights: verify the project recalculates (Automatic mode or Recalculate()), and prefer SaveReport(…, ReportType.OverallocatedResources) over generic views.
  • Fonts/locale: if characters are missing, deploy the required fonts on the server or handle font resolve events.

FAQ

Q1. Does Aspose.Tasks detect resource overallocation automatically? Yes. Overallocation is reflected on tasks and assignments. You can check fields like Tsk.IsOverallocated (per task) and ResourceAssignment.Overallocated (per assignment) in code.

Q2. What’s the difference between the Overallocated Resources report and the Resource Usage view? The report is a purpose‑built summary highlighting problem resources; the Usage view shows time‑phased workload details. Use both for a complete picture.

Q3. Can I “color” only overallocated rows in a sheet view? Direct per‑row conditional styling in sheet views is limited. A practical workaround is to export the Overallocated Resources report for highlights, and separately export Resource Usage/Resource Sheet views (optionally filtered) for context.

Q4. How can I speed up exports for very large MPP files? Filter out inactive/complete portions, choose coarser timescales (weeks/months), and avoid rendering every view. Export the targeted report first.

Q5. Do I need Microsoft Project installed? No. Aspose.Tasks works independently. Just ensure fonts used by the project are available to the rendering environment.

Conclusion

When you need reliable PDF output that highlights overallocated resources, prefer the Overallocated Resources report and ensure the project is recalculated before export. For deeper analysis, add a Resource Usage PDF with a suitable timescale and keep page settings conservative for large files.

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