Export to MS-Office 2007 and Later support - Using Business Object Enterprise XI 3.1

[Former Member]

Hi Team,

Below is our current setup/configuration and which supports only the export in MS Office 97-2003 format and looking for the MS-Office 2007 support with minimal or no change.

• Business Object Enterprise XI 3.1 SP 3
• .NET SDK for generation of the report/export to required format
• Crystalreportviewers12 - For viewer
• Custom .NET Application (SDK caller) target to Framework 3.5 and 32-bit

Without any change on BO Server or .NET SDK can we upgrade/open the reports design from CR 2008 to CR 2013 and use it to run on current BO Server. Or suggest the best approach with minimal changes and appreciate your quick response.

Thanks

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can upgrade the reports.  However, you will not get any of the new features of CR 2013, such as the new export formats, when you run reports in your BO system, with or without the SDK.  You would have to upgrade to BIP 4.x to get that. The latest version of the Crystal Reports SDK does NOT include support for connections to BusinessObjects and the latest version of the BusinessObjects SDK will not connect to BO 3.1.

-Dell

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Dell for the prompt response.

So, in short there is no way to get the export for the MS-Office 2007 later with minimal changes.

Could you please elaborate on upgrade.. Will there be BI 4.x client tools and SDK to support report document. If not what will be the alternative for my custom .net solution which uses the SDK for BO server.

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

YOu can try upgrading to SP 7 in CR 2008 from this link:

Downloads for SAP Crystal Reports and others

Problem is BOE 3.1 is end of life but you can upgrade it as well if you have a valid support contract.

But you should upgrade to BOE 4.1 or 4.2 and CR 2013/2016 to be up to date.

Don

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Don. If BO server upgraded to BOE 4.1 and Reports using CR 2013.

Will there be .NET SDK and Crystal Report Viewer to work with my Custom .NET application which interacts with Business Object.

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

Yes, there are client tools and a .NET SDK available.  There have been some changes to the SDK but I don't think you'll be affected by much of it other than you'll have to use VS 2010 or newer.  The "OpenDocument" URL has changed too.

-Dell

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks. So, Upgrade is the only option to get the MS-Office 2007 and later.

I have seen many articles in discussion group but could not map to the required one and need help in below and let me know if my understanding is correct. Below Current is the one which we are on and the new is the one which is planning.

Current	New	Comments
BOE XI 3.1	BI 4.x	Server install
BOE XI 3.1 Client Tools	BI 4.x Client Tools	Client machine
Visual Studio 2008	Visual Studio 2010 or newer	Development Setup
Crystal Reports 2008 (SDK)	SAP Crystal Reports developer version for MS VS	.NET SDK
Crystal Reports 2008	Crystal Reports 2013	Reports Designer
CrystalReportViewer12	???	Will it have CrystalReportViewer14??

And also will the new SDK have all the existing classes (CrystalDecisions.Enterprise.EnterpriseSession, TrustedPrinicpal, SessionMgr, InfoObjects, also ReportClientDocument and ReportAppFactory.OpenDocument) ?

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

If you're running Crystal Reports from outside of the BI Platform, then you'll use the Crystal for Visual Studio SDK (version 13.x assemblies).  However, if you're running reports from the BI Platform, you'll use ONLY the BI 4.x SDK (version 14.x assemblies) that comes with the Client Tools install.  DO NOT mix the two in the same application!

-Dell

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Little confused and trying to understand here. Please help me in answering below questions

1. When you say "Crystal Reports from outside of the BI Platform" does it mean running from the .NET code using CrystalReportViewer control and ReportClientDocument.Load?

2. If I continue to use the BI 3.x and upgrade from VS 2008 to VS 2010 with Crystal for Visual Studio SDK (v 13.x), Will I able to export the reports to MS-Office 2007 and later???

3. If I need to migrate from BI 3.x to BI 4.x then how can I integrate my .NET code using Crystal Report with BO Server running on BI 4.x ??

4. How can I achieve all my components like BO Server/BO Client/.Net Development environment all running on same BI 4.x WITHOUT MIXING VERSIONS?

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

1.  In Crystal 2008 and earlier, the SDK would allow you to run/view Crystal Reports with or without logging in to BO - MANY companies use Crystal without installing a BI Platform (Crystal Server or BusinessObjects).  However, you are limited to 5 concurrent users when running report without a BI Platform login.  With Crystal 2011 and BI 4.x, the two SDKs were split.

     a.  If you log in to BusinessObjects in your code and then run reports from your BO system, you need to use the BI Platform SDK.

     b.  If you are running/displaying Crystal Reports without a BI Platform session, then you need to use the Crystal for VS SDK.

2.  No.  The Crystal 2008 SDK is not certified for VS 2010 and newer and you'll run into problems if you try to use it there.  Also, the version of Office the SDK will work with is dependent on the version of the SDK, not the version of VS.

3.  You will install the .NET SDK from the Client Tools install for your development workstation(s); for your servers, you'll be able to download and install the SDK runtime.  You will have to upgrade your application to use VS 2010 or newer and replace the SDK assemblies that you've referenced with the ones from the new version of the SDK.  You'll then recompile the app.

4.  DO NOT install the Crystal for VS SDK.  Also, you may want to uninstall the Crystal 2008 SDK from the development workstation or do your development on a VM where Crystal 2008 has not been installed.  Also, when you install one of the newer versions of Crystal (2011, 2013, 2016), the SDK is NOT included in the install, so you don't have to worry about conflicts there.

-Dell