Why succeeding versions of Crystal Reports .NET web applications work on same web server?

[saurabh_pathak]

Recently, I discovered why the succeeding versions of Crystal Reports .NET web applications on the same machine work without conflict and the advantages of verifying the Viewers' Virtual Directory for web applications.

Crystal Reports heavily relies on a virtual directory to access viewers for display. As evident from following table, virtual directory and its underlying file path are unique for each version of Crystal Reports,  that is the reason why succeeding versions work.

While developing the web application or web site it is always good to verify that the Viewers' Virtual Directory has been correctly installed on the development, and deployment, web servers; as it may help you save some time on troubleshooting the unfamiliar issues.

While creating the table, I have assumed that the Crystal Reports has been installed on the machine with the default settings. Developer's Guide can be checked for more reading (Crystal Reports XI R2 and Crystal Reports 2008).

Version	Viewer’s Virtual Directory
Crystal Reports for Visual   Studio .NET 2002	CrystalReportWebFormViewer
FilePath: C:Program FilesMicrosoft   Visual Studio .NETCrystal ReportsViewers
Crystal Reports 9	crystalreportviewers
File Path: C:Program FilesCommon FilesCrystal   Decisions2.0crystalreportviewers
Crystal Reports for Visual   Studio .NET 2003	CrystalReportWebFormViewer2
File Path: C:Program FilesMicrosoft   Visual Studio .NET 2003Crystal ReportsViewers
Crystal Reports 10	crystalreportviewers10
File Path: C:Program FilesCommon   FilesCrystal Decisions2.5crystalreportviewers10
Crystal Reports 11	crystalreportviewers11
File Path: C:Program FilesCommon   FilesBusiness Objects3.0crystalreportviewers11
Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2005	CrystalReportWebFormViewer3
File path when using ASP.NET Development   Server [Windows folder]Microsoft.NETFrameworkv2.0.51014ASP.NETClientFilesCrystalReportWebFormViewer3 File path when using IIS C:Inetpubwwwrootaspnet_clientsystem_web2_0_51014CrystalReportWebFormViewer3
Crystal Reports XI R2	Crystalreportviewers115
File Path: C:Program FilesBusiness   ObjectsCommon3.5crystalreportviewers115
Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2008	CrystalReportWebFormViewer4
File path when using ASP.NET Development   Server [Windows folder]Microsoft.NETFrameworkv2.0.50727ASP.NETClientFilesCrystalReportWebFormViewer4  File path when using IIS C:Inetpubwwwrootaspnet_clientsystem_web2_0_50727CrystalReportWebFormViewer4
Crystal Reports 2008	crystalreportviewers12
File path when using ASP.NET Development Server  [Windows   folder]Microsoft.NETFrameworkv2.0.50727ASP.NETClientFilesCrystalReportWebFormViewer12  File path when using IIS C:Program FilesBusiness   ObjectsCommon4.0crystalreportviewers12
Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010	crystalreportviewers13
File path when using ASP.NET Development   Server [Windows folder]Microsoft.NETFrameworkv2.0.50727ASP.NETClientFilescrystalreportviewers13    or [Windows folder]Microsoft.NETFrameworkv4.0.30319ASP.NETClientFilescrystalreportviewers13    File path when using IIS C:Inetpubwwwrootaspnet_clientsystem_web2_0_50727crystalreportviewers13    or C:Inetpubwwwrootaspnet_clientsystem_web4_0_30319crystalreportviewers13

Additional Resources:

• Dynamic images appear as red X on Crystal Reports in VS .NET web viewer
• Viewer toolbar images appear as red ‘X on Crystal Reports VS .NET web viewer