CR for VS2005 upgrade to VS2010 to VS2013

[Former Member]

Hi all

Recently I took over an old project which was developed on VS 2005 using Crystal Report XI (separate purchase) 7 years ago. I have imported the project into VS 2010 and replace the CR 11.5 with CR 13 (that came with VS 2010).

I realised some of the reports had the option 'Verify on Every Print' checked and in the code, the subroutine VerifyDatabase() was called prior to each print.

Question 1.

Can I remove this option 'Verify on Every Print'? With this checked, the report will take triple the time to print.

Question 2.

What is the use of this option? I googled for a week and unable to find a good explanation to use and not to use.

Question 3.

Can CR 13 (embedded) run on 64-bit Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 after upgrading the project file from VS 2005 to VS 2010?

Question 4.

If I were to upgrade to VS 2013, will there be any vast speed improvement?

Any of your input is appreciated.

Please assist me.

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

1.  Yes, you can remove "Verify on Every Print" - especially if the database the report is using is very stable and the tables used by the report will not be changing.

2.  Crystal stores information about the table structure when the report is designed.  So "Verify" is used to validate whether there have been changes to the tables the report is connecting to.  Sometimes additional fields and indexes can cause a report to fail even though the new fields or indexes are not used in the report!

3.  Yes.  When you're working in VS, you'll be working with the 32-bit version of the SDK, so you'll need 32-bit database connections configured.  Specifically target your application for a 64-bit platform and install the 64-bit SDK runtime from one of the installs here:  http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-7824.  You'll then need to configure 64-bit database connections for your application to run.

4.  There should be no speed difference between VS 2010 and VS 2013 - the same SDK files are used for both.

-Dell

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Dear Ms Dell

Thank you for your fast reply.

Reply to 1.

All 20 reports get data from MySQL 5.1 database, except that 4 of them get it from the MySQL views (temptable type). The main issues lied with the reports that get it from the views. Can I uncheck it?

I read up forums stating things like if the structure of the views and tables stayed the same, there is no need to keep it checked.

Question 1

Are both Mr Ludek and you from SAP as I realised both of you gave replies to us most of the time, no?

Question 2

I also found the following, is it still applicable in VS 2010 / 2013?

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/8029cc96-6ff3-2b10-47a2-b30ea790e...

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

1.  Ludek is employed by SAP, but I'm not.  I just hang out here when I have a bit of time.

2.  Most, if not all of that information is still valid.

-Dell

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Dear Ms Dell

I will look up your suggestion and take references from the link and report back later.

Under the impression of the former developer, the boss of our company has the intention to drop Crystal Report and move on to other reporting tools when the sluggish performance plagued him for years.

Thank you for your replies once again, it will surely help me and the company.

[former_member183750]

Hi Christopher

A bit late to the party...

Dell is actually a very, very good consultant. E.g.; if I ever run a department that would need help with anything BI / CR I'd google her up. Ok, that as a plug that I think I can get away with .

Anyhow. Everything Dell said is correct. The only reason I jumped in is to encourage you to let us help you if you still see performance problems. We'll need info such as what the is the expected performance (e.g.; what is the performance compared to?)? Database, database client, connection type (OLE DB, ODBC, other), subreports (e.g.; construction details of the report), etc., etc. But more often than not, we can improve the performance substantially.

- Ludek

Senior Support Engineer AGS Product Support, Global Support Center Canada

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[Former Member]

Hi Ludek

Finally you came in 😜 (its 2am in Singapore, Asia).

Googling Dell up is good suggestion. Actually, I googled the two of you ^_^.

I am pretty new into Crystal Report, the last one I did was in VB 6 and a little in VS 2010 (came from Java background).

For the project converted to VS 2010, I would have to stick with the embedded CR, Moving on, in the upcoming projects, beside using the embedded ones, I remembered I read up something about dedicated/standalone Crystal Report solution, no?

This project is using ODBC via MySQL 5.1 connector on MySQL 5.5 Innodb database. Future projects will be running on either MariaDB or MSSQL Express.

Question 1.

Also, are you the only official staff to support VS users?

[former_member183750]

LOL

If only the Earth was flat. Then we'd all be on the same time zone - huh (?)

But seriously. Let's start with question 1. It is Don Williams and I that handle the forums for CRVS, BI .NET SDK and Java (though for the Java part we most often get the answer from coworkers).

Now, you mention "For the project converted to VS 2010, I would have to stick with the embedded CR". This I need a clarification on as it makes it sound like the current project is referencing the Report Designer Component (RDC) - referencing the craxdrt.dll. If that is the case, you're out of luck re. any updates as the RDC is not part of CR for VS 2010. The RDC was actually retired in CR XI R2 (v. 11.5) and this version of CR has been out of support since June 2012. So, the summary of the news is;

RDC is gone and you will have to recode the app completely using the CR SDK for Visual Studio. As for the databases, that should not be a problem, but the performance question is still outstanding; compared to what? E.g.; if the report runs slowly in the CR designer, it will not run any faster using any CR SDK.

And finally, just to clear things up for me; what dlls are referenced in your project?

- Ludek

[Former Member]

DLL references screenshot as attached

I just removed all the Verify On Every Print.

When I run the program, it threw 2 errors.

1) Error Loading Report

2) Error connecting, {xxxxxx}.rpt

There is no sub report in this report but there are parameter passed to the report and some of the fields contain formulas.

[former_member183750]

The second error, is either an incorrect translation(?), or an error that the app is trapping and re-displaying. E.g.; this is not a CR error.

Can you paste in here the code used?

What database are you using?

What database connection method (OLE DB, ODBC, etc.)

Does the report work anywhere?

Can you attach the report - with saved data preferably.

Do a very simple test:

New app

One line of code:

CrystalRepoprtViewer1.ReportSource = <path to the report>

The report should prompt for db logon and any other parameters.

What happens in this app? (Make sure it is a win app and you use the full 4.x frm).

- Ludek

[Former Member]

Dear Ludek

I'm sorry for the late replies.

After a power surge, the pc was damage and we have to spend time to re-image back the OS.

Anyway, I have found out the cause of the slow issue was due to the previous programmer's fault. Her inefficient coding style and database query and design messed things up. I have convinced the boss to rewrite the whole part.

Since I am relatively new to crystal report, can you or someone point me to some resources (books, video, paid/free tutorials) to read up? I have googled for some of them and am running through them.

[DellSC]

Brian Bishoff has a book on an earlier version of the Crystal SDK that is available at www.crystalreportsbook.com (disclaimer - I am a moderator in his forums).  But one of the best places to get sample code is right here on SCN.  If you go to the home page for this "space" and scroll down a bit, you'll see links to sample code.

-Dell

[Former Member]

Thank you Ms Dell and Mr Ludek

[former_member183750]

Hi Christopher

If you are looking to help with the .NET SDK, I find the Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2005 Walkthroughs is really, really good (it does apply to all versions of .NET and CR).

Sample apps are here:

Crystal Reports for .NET SDK Samples - Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects) - SCN Wiki

Developer Help files:

SAP Crystal Reports .NET SDK Developer Guide

SAP Crystal Reports .NET API Guide

See how things go with the above and let us know if you need help.

- Ludek