Parallel dependency network

How it works

1. Define parallel work

   Add API design, interface design, and migration planning after discovery, then join the delivery paths before acceptance and release.

2. Calculate dependency stages

   Calculate the schedule and create a dependency network. The Project renderer places stages in columns and parallel work in separate lanes.

3. Export a zoomable diagram

   Use a 300-DPI PNG for fixed-size sharing, SVG for vector zoom, and PDF for review or printing. Save the calculated project as XML too.

This is the complete example file used to generate the download. The walkthrough runner creates the output directory and produces the additional previews.

using OfficeIMO.Drawing;
using OfficeIMO.Project;
using OfficeIMO.Workflows;

namespace OfficeIMO.Examples.Showcase.Workflows;

/// <summary>Shows parallel work, dependency joins, and task status in a network report.</summary>
internal static class ProjectDependencyNetwork {
    internal static void Create(string folder) {
        using var project = ProjectDocument.Create();
        project.Name = "Platform release / dependency map";
        project.Calendar = project.Calendars.AddStandardWorkingWeek();
        project.Settings.StartDate = new DateTime(2026, 10, 5, 8, 0, 0);
        string[] names = { "Discovery", "API design", "Interface design", "Migration plan", "Build and integrate", "Migration rehearsal", "Acceptance", "Release" };
        var tasks = names.Select((name, index) => {
            var task = project.Tasks.Add(name);
            task.Duration = ProjectDuration.WorkingDays(index == 7 ? 0 : index == 4 ? 4 : 2);
            return task;
        }).ToArray();
        foreach (var (from, to) in new[] { (0, 1), (0, 2), (0, 3), (1, 4), (2, 4), (3, 5), (4, 6), (5, 6), (6, 7) })
            project.Dependencies.Add(tasks[from], tasks[to]);
        tasks[0].ActualStart = project.Settings.StartDate;
        tasks[0].ActualDuration = ProjectDuration.WorkingHours(16);
        tasks[0].RemainingDuration = ProjectDuration.WorkingHours(0);
        tasks[1].ActualStart = new DateTime(2026, 10, 7, 8, 0, 0);
        tasks[1].ActualDuration = ProjectDuration.WorkingHours(8);
        tasks[1].RemainingDuration = ProjectDuration.WorkingHours(8);

        var schedule = project.CalculateSchedule(new ProjectScheduleOptions { CalculateAssignments = true });
        schedule.Report.ThrowIfErrors();
        var view = project.CreateView(schedule, new ProjectViewOptions {
            Kind = ProjectViewKind.Network, NetworkLayout = ProjectNetworkLayout.Dependency,
            PageWidth = 1600, PageHeight = 900
        });
        project.ApplySchedule(schedule);
        project.Save(Path.Combine(folder, "example.xml"));

        string fonts = Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, "Assets", "Fonts");
        var faces = new OfficeFontFaceCollection()
            .Add("Arial", File.ReadAllBytes(Path.Combine(fonts, "Carlito-Regular.ttf")))
            .Add("Arial", File.ReadAllBytes(Path.Combine(fonts, "Carlito-Bold.ttf")), OfficeFontStyle.Bold);
        var typography = new OfficeRenderingProfile("network-report", faces, OfficeManagedTextShapingProvider.Instance);
        var images = new ProjectImageExportOptions().UseRenderingProfile(typography).UseQuality(OfficeImageExportQuality.Print);
        File.WriteAllBytes(Path.Combine(folder, "preview.png"), ProjectReportWorkflow.ExportImages(view, options: images).Single().Bytes);
        File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(folder, "preview.svg"), ProjectReportWorkflow.ToSvg(view, typography).Single());
        File.WriteAllBytes(Path.Combine(folder, "preview.pdf"), ProjectReportWorkflow.ToPdf(view, typography: typography));
    }
}

Run it from the source checkout

Clone the OfficeIMO repository and run this command from its root with the .NET 10 SDK. The first run restores the example project's dependencies.

dotnet run --project OfficeIMO.Examples -f net10.0 -- --showcase-workflows --showcase-example project-dependency-network

The files are written to OfficeIMO.Examples/bin/Debug/net10.0/Documents/Workflows/project-dependency-network/. To use the example in your application, start with the Project guide and its package setup.

Continue with another example

• ProjectDelivery Gantt with progress
• ProjectRelease milestone timeline