CR 2008 to Visual Studio 2013

[Former Member]

Hello,

We have an existing website application with Crystal Reports components, originally developed in Visual Studio 2008. We need to maintain it now using Visual Studio 2013.

I am new to CR. Here is some information I was able to obtain about the existing system(s):

Development computer has this software installed:

1. Crystal Reports Basic Runtime for Visual Studio 2008

2. Crystal Reports Basic Runtime for Visual Studio 2008 (x64)

3. Crystal Reports XI (have CDs)

4. Visual Studio 2013

5. VS website project. (.NET 3.5, target AnyCPU, Uses DataSet for report data connection)

Web server has this software installed:

1. Crystal Reports Basic Runtime for Visual Studio 2008

Several days ago, we installed the "SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio" (for VS2013). After that, when opening the project, it started asking us to upgrade reports to the latest version. We experimented with it in both ways:

1. Upgraded - we were able to edit existing reports and introduce new DataSets. Project worked fine on development machine, However when we moved files to the server we got error message related to versions mismatch. Sorry I don't have the exact message available, but it was version mismatch between ver. 10.5 and 13.2.

2. No Upgrade - Keep existing version - we were able to edit report layouts but not introduce new DataSet (ADO connection did not show up in Add Connection dialog). However, as expected, reports ran fine on the server.

We are not sure what is involved in upgrading this to the latest version. But it would be a great start if you could answer following questions:

1. What CR package we need to purchase to upgrade to VS2013?

2. Where to install the runtimes? Development or server (or both?)

3. Will it work if the reports are lower version that the runtimes?

4. In short - how do we upgrade?

I know this was long, so Thank You for your time,

Jack

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

The SDK from Crystal 2008 is not certified to work with VS 2013.  So you will need to upgrade to Crystal for VS.

1.  Uninstall CR 2008 - the new version of the SDK does not play well when installed side-by-side with an older version.

2.  Download the latest version of the "Install Executable" from here:  http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-7824.  This will integrate CR into VS.

The runtime installs are also available on the same page - DO NOT install the runtime on the development pc.

-Dell

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Dell,

So we don't need to purchase the new version?

Can the runtimes be newer version that reports? In case we don't edit some reports?

Thanks,

Jack

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

Correct - the SDK comes separately from the new version of Crystal.  And yes, you can run older reports with this SDK as long as the reports were created in Crystal 9 or newer.

-Dell

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thank you,

So just to clarify, please tell me if this is correct:

1. We install SDK ("SAP Crystal Reports, version for Visual Studio" SP 13) on both - dev computer and server.

     a. Dev computer - Install Executable SP13

     b. Server - 32bit.msi AND 64bit.msi

2. We select "Upgrade" option when opening the project in VS.

3. We only edit/save reports we need to change.

4. We don't need the latest package/license.

Thanks,

Jack