Crystal 8.0 and PDF Export

[Former Member]

I am new to this forum and have done quite a bit of searching on the internet for an answer to my question.  I have found a lot of people asking the same questions ( a long time ago ) and have seen a few "possible" solutions but none that are definite.

I working with a legacy system running CR 8.0 that 15 years ago only distributed the files they needed at the time.  They now have the need to export their reports as a PDF, however, there were files missing.

I found a lot of posts concerning which files they were and some that said it was a service pack add-on.  The files that I am thinking are necessary are:

ExportModeller.dll (version 1.0.0.18), u2fpdf.dll (version 8.0.100.13), and tslv.dll (version 1.0.0.2)

I have even found the first two files but have yet to find the right version of tslv.dll.  I am pretty sure I have all of the other necessary supporting files (although can never be positive about stuff like that).  reports are being run from craxdrt.dll and I do see that the format type is in the list of possible types when setting the exportoptions.

I have found the 8.0 developer version for sale in a couple of places (amazon, ebay, etc...) but not sure that they will include the files I need.

does anyone know if those 3 files will definitely allow for the export, or if there are other hidden files somewhere that I don't know about - and if those files were included in the installation of CR or if they were only available through a SP?  if it isn't on the disk itself - is there anywhere to actually get a copy of those files other than searching the internet for strays?

Thank you very much for your assistance,

JRM

[former_member183750 · Accepted solution]

Hi James

Some excellent detective work . Fortunately, that is the best I have for you. This is from such a long time ago...

I don't know if Brian's idea re. PDF print driver will work either - it is a good idea, I just don't know and I am a bit dubious. Certainly worth trying.

Other than that, the best option would be to just trow away that project and recode it using the current CR SDK for .NET. I am suspecting that this is not an option, so there are two other possibilities to explore - depending on the SDK used in the app. There are three SDK that were in play in CR 8.0; WIN APIs (print engine), OCX and RDC. If the app is using the print engine APIs or OCX, you could update the app (assuming you have the source code) to CR 8.5. CR 8.5 did ship the PDF export files. The PDF was not perfect, but it was... Oh, both the print engine APIs and OCX were retired in CR 8.5.

If the app is using the RDC (Report Designer Component - references craxdrt.dll) you could upgrade to CR 11.5 (recommended). Again, based on the assumption that you have the source code.

So, now we have one question left; how do you get CR 8.5 or CR 11.5?

I suppose as you already tried, Amazon may be a place. You could also see if SAP sales may be able to help; 866-681-3435

Both CR 8.5 and CR 11.5 are out of support, so I don't know if sales can / will be able to sell these anymore. But it's worth a dingle(?).

- Ludek

Senior Support Engineer AGS Product Support, Global Support Center Canada

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[ido_millet · Accepted solution]

Two of my applications have 8.5 RDC versions (because of special use scenarios such as customers needing join types not supported by later versions). In the 8.5 version:
ExportModeller.dll is version 8.6.2...
crxf_pdf.dll is version 8.6.2...

crtslv.dll is version 8.6.1...

But before you start in that direction, I see no reason why a pdf print driver won't work if all you need is interactive "printing" to PDF.

[former_member292966]

Hi James,

The PDF export for Crystal 8 was a beta add-on.  So it's not on the CD and my guess is if it still exists on the Internet somewhere it'll be in the darkest, lowest levels of some archived site.

PDF wasn't truly supported until version 9 I believe and even then it went through a couple of revisions.

The best suggestion I can offer, without upgrading, is to install a PDF print driver and print the reports to PDF.

Then you won't need to change code, hopefully.

Good luck,

Brian