Help Needed with some legacy software.

[Former Member]

My small printing company uses older shop management software. The invoices, purchase orders, packing lists and all reports we generate were created using crystal reports (.rpt files).

All of our users currently use windows XP, but we are preparing to switch to windows 7 or 8.

I have installed the software on a windows 7 machine (32-bit) and it seems to work fine, EXCEPT the “newer” reports which we have customized do not load

I believe the original “boiler-plate” reports (which came with the software and which work fine on windows 7) are Crystal version 5!

The ones we have customized since the original installation, have been modified using v6, v7 or v8. These are the ones which do not work.

Everything works fine on the XP operating system.

What do I need to do to get the reports to load correctly? Are there some “newer” library files that I need to copy to the system folder? Thanks

The package referred to above is Micro-Ink Enterprise 2000 Print Management Software.

[former_member183750 · Accepted solution]

Hello Charlie

I think this answer will be nothing but bad news for you... In a nutshell, my concern is that the CR SDK used in the application is not supported on WIN 7 or WIN 8. But, there is a number of bridges to cross, so let's cross them one at a time an see how far we get. Please note that my instinct on this is that we will not be able to get this to work unless you can contact Micro-Ink Enterprise and see if they can help you out. E.g.; they may have updated their software so that it is able to run reports on WIN 7 and 8. This will be the easiest way to proceed. If that is not possible:

I'll need to know is the SDK (Solution Developer Kit) used to create the shop management software. From what you are describing, my fear is that this will be one of 4 possible CR SDKs: OCX, RDC, VCL or Print Engine APIs.

Next; do you have the source code for the application? This question goes back to your question re. new library files. I an pretty sure there will be, however, more than likely they all will be retired by now (OCX, VCL, RDC, PE APIs). And in any case, updating to new libraries was never possible by just copying a few files as you had to recompile the app with the new libraries.

Next; when you say: These are the ones which do not work.

What actually happens?

- Ludek

Senior Support Engineer AGS Product Support, Global Support Center Canada

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[ido_millet · Accepted solution]

Given that older reports run fine on the new platform, I don't think there is a major problem here.

Perhaps the issue is connectivity method. Compare how the old reports and the new reports connect to the data source.  Do the new reports use ODBC as connection method?  If so, did you set the expected ODBC DSN on the client PC?  Keep in mind that on a 64-bit machine the ODBC DSN administration for your 32-bit ODBC connections is at:
C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe
DON'T use Control Panel, Administrative Tools, ODBC...

By the way, you didn't say what error message or behavior you are seeing when the reports fail to load.