Windows 2008 problems with Delphi and the Crystal Reports VCL

[Former Member]

Anybody had any luck with Crystal XI using the VCL on a Windows 2008 machine?

In testing we've found that everything seems to work, except that the user can not select a different printer. When I go to the Printer Setup button, the panel that pulls up used to have, in previous Windows versions, a printer button inside the Printer Options box. Windows 2008 does not, so the end user can not select a different printer to print to than their default.

Anybody have any ideas on:

1) Am I just doing somthing wrong

2) A fix for the Crystal XI VCL that will address the probelm

3) An option on how to call Crystal Reports from inside a Delphi program without the VCL?

Obviously, I'm hoping I don't have to go with #3, but if that's the only solution I guess I need to know now.

Mike Nielsen

[former_member183750 · Accepted solution]

1) Am I just doing something wrong

- probably not. The CR XI was never tested on WIN 2008, so if it works, bonus, if not...

2) A fix for the Crystal XI VCL that will address the probelm

- VCL has been retired. CR XI r1 is the last version of VCL to be released (more below)

3) An option on how to call Crystal Reports from inside a Delphi program without the VCL?

- The RDC is an option, but again; will it work on WIN 2008?

OK, here are your options:

1) Upgrade to CR 2008. This version is supported on WIN 2008. Use this article to upgrade your VCL to version 12:

https://boc.sdn.sap.com/files/Updating%20the%20CR%20XI%20VCL.pdf

(note that the above is not supported by SAP. The article is available as a customer courtesy, for those who do not have the option of going with .NET or Java)

That may work on WIN 2008. But again, the VCL upgrade as per above has not been tested on WIN 2008, so if it works great, if not...

RDC is not an option in CR 2008 as that SDK has been retired. Period.

2) Upgrade to CR XI r2 and use the RDC. CR XI r2 is the last version of CR that had the RDC SDK included. Upgrade to CR XI r2 is free for you as you have CR XI R1(?). If that is an option for you, you can download it from here:

https://smpdl.sap-ag.de/~sapidp/012002523100006008462008E/crxir2.zip

Before installing CR XI r2, uninstall CR XI r1, then use the keycode you have for CR XI r1 to install CR XI r2.

Ludek

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

OK, here are your options:

1) Upgrade to CR 2008. This version is supported on WIN 2008. Use this article to upgrade your VCL to version 12:

https://boc.sdn.sap.com/files/Updating%20the%20CR%20XI%20VCL.pdf

(note that the above is not supported by SAP. The article is available as a customer courtesy, for those who do not have the option of going with .NET or Java)

That may work on WIN 2008. But again, the VCL upgrade as per above has not been tested on WIN 2008, so if it works great, if not...

RDC is not an option in CR 2008 as that SDK has been retired. Period.

2) Upgrade to CR XI r2 and use the RDC. CR XI r2 is the last version of CR that had the RDC SDK included. Upgrade to CR XI r2 is free for you as you have CR XI R1(?). If that is an option for you, you can download it from here:

https://smpdl.sap-ag.de/~sapidp/012002523100006008462008E/crxir2.zip

Before installing CR XI r2, uninstall CR XI r1, then use the keycode you have for CR XI r1 to install CR XI r2.

Ludek

***********************************

OK, so now more questions.

1) RDC, is that the Active X control that comes with Crystal? If so, then moving to that isn't an option if it's not supported after Crystal XI. It would be a stop-gap answer at best.

2) Is there any guarantee that CR XI r2 will work in Windows 2008 and solve my problem? I'm guessing, as the VCL isn't supported that it will either work or not but nobody knows and no support.

3) With the VCL no longer supported, and RDC no longer an option with Crystal 2008, does that mean that basically if I'm using Delphi I can no longer use Crystal Reports? That's the feeling I'm getting.

Mike Nielsen

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi Mike,

1) RDC, is that the Active X control that comes with Crystal? If so, then moving to that isn't an option if it's not supported after Crystal XI. It would be a stop-gap answer at best.

RDC is the COM engine that is still shipped with CR XI R2 ( 11.5 ) It will be supported until 2010 or so.

2) Is there any guarantee that CR XI r2 will work in Windows 2008 and solve my problem? I'm guessing, as the VCL isn't supported that it will either work or not but nobody knows and no support.

No, As Ludek mentioned the VCL is no longer supported so you are on your own. We'll do best effort but if it requires fixing anything we have no escalation path to R&D.

3) With the VCL no longer supported, and RDC no longer an option with Crystal 2008, does that mean that basically if I'm using Delphi I can no longer use Crystal Reports? That's the feeling I'm getting.

Unless Delphi adds support for .NET assemblies then no option. The majority of our users were using Visual Studio and when MS announced that COM was going away and .NET was it's replacement we had to follow also. Unfortunately anyone who is still using the COM model has no option but to change their development Suite to one that uses .NET or Java. Java is universal and is supported on all OS platforms.

Thank you

Don

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Unless Delphi adds support for .NET assemblies then no option. The majority of our users were using Visual Studio and when MS announced that COM was going away and .NET was it's replacement we had to follow also. Unfortunately anyone who is still using the COM model has no option but to change their development Suite to one that uses .NET or Java. Java is universal and is supported on all OS platforms.

Thank you

Don

******************************

Maybe we are onto something. I'm using Delphi 2006, and there is a place in import a .Net Assembly.

Of course, I've never done it nor have any clue what I'm getting into.

When I click it it apparently gets a list of .Net assemblies on my machine. I see two that might apply:

CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.DataSetConversion

and

CrystalDecistions.Shared

Any of that make any sense? Will one of those give me a way to interface to a Crystal Report?

Mike Nielsen

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi Mike,

That is 2 of them. Not sure how Delphi does it but if you do as Ludek suggested and get the free upgrade to XI R2 SP2 minimum so it's fully supported you will find all our assemblies located in this folder:

C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\3.5\managed

I suggest you use the one located in the C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\3.5\managed\dotnet2 to use 2.0 Framework which is more up to date.

In MS .NET IDE you can add references to the project and simply browse to the above folder and add. Most common and the 2 that are required are the CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine and CrystalDecisions.Windows.Forms. Forms is the viewer.

You can download samples from our support site for more info. Or use the Developer help file on the functions. To much to explain here so play first and if you have more questions then post those.

Have fun

Don

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

In MS .NET IDE you can add references to the project and simply browse to the above folder and add. Most common and the 2 that are required are the CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine and CrystalDecisions.Windows.Forms. Forms is the viewer.

You can download samples from our support site for more info. Or use the Developer help file on the functions. To much to explain here so play first and if you have more questions then post those.

Have fun

Don

******************

Not sure fun is the right word....

Do you have links to the samples and/or the Developer help files? I'm not all that familiar with the support portal and what I did find were long lists of samples and not sure which you were referring to.

I do have Visual Studio 2005 so I can at least open the samples and maybe get a feel for how they work in C# possibly and (hopefully) be able to see what I need to do in Delphi.

Mike Nielsen

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi Mike,

Try these links:

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/businessobjects-samples?rid=/webcontent/uuid/80774579-b086-2b10-db91...

If that link doesn't work try this one:

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/businessobjects-samples

Then click on the Crystal Reports .NET SDK link.

Gets you to the .NET downloads and you should see this, try the RAS samples, gives you the most functionality:

Crystal Reports .NET SDK Applications

All Sample Applications

All | Exporting/Printing | Report Modification | Viewing | Home

Report Application Server .NET Sample Code Code Sample(ZIP 177 KB)

Contains Visual Studio 2005 Web sample code pages that highlight features of the RAS SDK, including report parameter and formula modification, database logon, and exporting.10 Oct 2008

NET-CS2005_CRNET_CR115_Set_Viewer-Locale-by-Page Code Sample(ZIP 51 KB)

This sample shows you how to change the multilingual settings for the .NET web form viewer control (CrystalReportViewer) to any locale of your choice. The locale is set via a QueryString variable. The settings are changed on the webform page level instead of using the web.config. Changing the Regional Settings or IE Language Settings will not impact this sample. Note: This has only been tested on Crystal Reports XI R2 with Visual Studio .NET 2005.14 Jul 2008

NET-CS2003_RAS-Unmanaged_CR115_Modify_Command-Table-SQL Code Sample(ZIP 31 KB)

"This sample application shows how to retrieve and change the text of a SQL command table from a Crystal Report using the CR .NET SDK and in-process Report Application Server (RAS) Report Creation API (RCAPI). Note that you must have SP2 for Crystal Reports XI R2 for this sample to work. Previously you could access the RAS .NET SDK from the ReportDocument object only if you had a dedicated RAS server. Now you can use RAS in-process to accomplish this. "05 Mar 2008

NET-CPP-Win2005_CRNET_CR115_Change_Record-Selection-Formula Code Sample(ZIP 3 MB)

A .NET C++ Windows application that demonstrates how to change a record selection formula at runtime.03 Mar 2008

Crystal Reports 2008 .NET SDK Tutorial Samples Code Sample(ZIP 2 MB)

This sample contains Visual Studio 2005 Web sample code projects that highlight features of the Crystal Reports .NET SDK, including viewing and exporting reports, filtering data and setting parameters, and connecting to different data sources.19 Feb 2008

NET-CS2005_CRNET_CR115_Modify_Image-Location Code Sample(ZIP 90 KB)

This sample application shows how to change an image in a Crystal Report at runtime using the graphic location formula in the CR .NET SDK (C#).16 Feb 2008

NET2003-CS-Web_CRNET_CR115_change_graphic-location Code Sample(ZIP 103 KB)

This sample application shows how to change an image in a Crystal Report at runtime using the graphic location formula in the CR .NET SDK (C#).31 Jan 2008

Crystal Reports .NET SDK u2013 Sample Applications from Tutorials Code Sample(ZIP 1 MB)

This file contains C# and VB .NET Windows and web sample applications. These samples were built using the tutorials provided in the u2018Crystal Reports .NET SDK u2013 Additional Documentation and Tutorialsu2019 (cr_net_sdk_additional_en.zip). These sample applications apply to Crystal Reports 9 and 10, and Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET 2002 and 2003.10 May 2006

Thanks again

Don