ProjectEngine v1.2.5 is a major corrective release focused on international compatibility, scheduling consistency, Gantt reliability and dependency readability.
This release does not introduce a new functional area. Its purpose is to stabilize the v1.2 architecture after additional real-world testing and user feedback.
International Excel compatibility
ProjectEngine previously relied on localized French worksheet formulas in parts of the VBA code. This could cause formula restoration to fail on systems running Excel in another language, including English installations.
The managed WBS formulas now use Excel’s invariant formula syntax and are written through language-independent properties. Formula restoration, comparison, autofill and Full Reset workflows have been updated accordingly.
The French Excel regression campaign passed, including formula restoration, autofill, Update Planning, Full Update, save/reopen and Full Reset tests.
A real English Excel installation remains the final external compatibility validation.
Incremental dependency updates
Changes to predecessor relationships are now detected and reconciled more reliably by the incremental Gantt workflow.
This includes:
- changing a relationship type, including explicit SS to implicit FS;
- removing a predecessor;
- updating the normalized dependency topology;
- removing obsolete dependency routes from the SVG layer;
- rerouting modified dependencies without requiring a Full Update.
The corrected incremental workflow now converges toward the expected dependency graph instead of retaining stale links.
Corrected summary-task SS and FF semantics
SS and FF relationships using a summary task as predecessor previously produced inconsistent analytics because expanded leaf-level edges could be interpreted as independent constraints.
The analytics network now preserves the intended aggregated summary boundary:
- summary SS relationships use the earliest aggregated summary start;
- summary FF relationships use the latest aggregated summary finish;
- the existing FS behavior is preserved.
This removes artificial negative Free Float results while keeping the scheduling engine and analytics network aligned.
Longest Path REX restored
A valid Longest Path REX result could previously be calculated internally but not written back to the CALC table.
The missing output path has been restored. Longest Path REX now returns results when the Baseline-based REX network is valid, while the existing diagnostic remains in place when no usable REX state can be constructed.
More reliable Gantt geometry
The dependency SVG layer now validates its real physical position and dimensions rather than relying only on cached task geometry.
The Gantt can therefore reconcile a displaced or resized dependency layer through the normal TEST, UPDATE, FULL, scale-change and drag workflows. It no longer requires an unrelated column change or an additional refresh to recover its correct alignment.
The drag watcher is also reconciled when the planning workflow finishes, improving interaction reliability after refreshes and after reopening the workbook.
Dependency links are visible again
Dependency links are now maintained above task bars instead of being systematically sent behind them.
This makes links substantially easier to follow across the Gantt while preserving task selection, drag and resize behavior. The transparent area of the SVG does not block general interaction with the Gantt, and no duplicate interaction layer or hit map was required.
The front-layer policy is maintained consistently after:
- TEST;
- incremental UPDATE;
- FULL;
- drag and resize;
- Day, Week and Month scale changes;
- Constraints ON/OFF;
- save and reopen.
The final validation retained one dependency SVG, stable route counts and no duplicate shapes.
Additional Gantt corrections
This release also includes:
- improved invalidation after resizing columns to the left of the timeline;
- corrected FF arrow termination at the edge of milestones and other point markers;
- invalidation of obsolete cached FF route geometry;
- improved retained-layer reconciliation;
- stronger READY-state validation for the dependency layer.
Validation
The corrected modules were compiled and synchronized across the ProjectEngine workbooks.
Targeted validation covered:
- predecessor modification and deletion;
- stale dependency cleanup;
- summary SS and FF dates and floats;
- milestone FF arrow geometry;
- Longest Path REX writeback;
- dependency-layer alignment;
- drag and resize;
- scale changes;
- Constraints ON/OFF;
- save, close and reopen;
- single-layer and duplicate-shape invariants.
Thanks
Special thanks to andrerwolff for taking the time to test ProjectEngine and report the issue encountered on an English Excel installation.
That feedback exposed a language-dependent formula problem which would otherwise have remained difficult to detect and directly led to the internationalization work included in this release.
Upgrade recommendation
All v1.2 users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to v1.2.5.
This release replaces the temporary recommendation to rely on Full Update after every dependency modification. Full Update remains available as the complete rebuild workflow, but incremental updates now handle the corrected predecessor and SVG reconciliation cases.