Crystal Reports in ASP .NET Core 2.0

[Former Member]

Is it possible to generate Crystal Reports in the Asp.NET Core app , target framework is .net core 2.0

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

But you are still using ASP NET Core, still not supported.

As noted, we don't support the "light" version of the Framework, same as it was in VS 2010 and selecting .Net Framework Client Profile. All of the required dependencies are not included in that version, same as the Core version. I believe Microsoft just renamed it to Core.

So update your Core Project to the full 4.7.1 and it should work.

I just install 4.7.1 and it works for my existing ASP.NET project that was set to 4.0.

To be clear, Framework 2.0 Core is NOT supported.

Don

[cpmcgrath · Accepted solution]

Hi, Just to be clear dotnet core is not a 'light' version of the Framework. It is completely separate from the dotnet framework. It's the future of dotnet.

[former_member1174083 · Accepted solution]

Don, this is nonsense: "We don't support the "light" version of the Framework, same as it was in VS 2010 and selecting .Net Framework Client Profile. ... I believe Microsoft just renamed it to Core."

Reality:

• "The goal with .NET Core was to take the learning from our experience building, shipping and servicing .NET Framework over the previous 12 years and build a better product."
• "All future investment in .NET will be in .NET Core."
• "All *new* .NET applications should be based on .NET Core."
• ".NET Framework 4.8 will be the last major version of .NET Framework."

Source: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/net-core-is-the-future-of-net/

SAP should get with the times.

(Note that the upcoming .NET 5 doesn't have "Core" in its name but is the successor to Core 3.1.)

[former_member1049183 · Accepted solution]

So is CR dead now? Since all .NET frameworks are going to be Core?

[former_member11696]

R&D said there are no plans to add support for that platform, it's too "light" of a version for CR for VS to work with.

Only option is to use the Full Framework versions. 3.5 -> 4.7+

Thanks for bringing this up...

Don

[Former Member]

Don,

I have updated my solution to target the full .NET framework version 4.7.1, using ASP.NET Core in Visual Studio 2017. I have also installed Crystal Reports SP22 + runtime, and followed all the instructions (running as admin, etc).

However, I am unable to add a Crystal Report to my project. When I click Add >> New Item..., there is no Crystal Report option.

If I create a new project using ASP.NET (.NET Framework) I am able to add a Crystal Report to my project. But for projects that use ASP.NET Core with the .NET Framework 4.7.1, the option to add a Crystal Report is not there.

In your previous answer, you said the only option was to use the full framework versions 3.5 -> 4.7+. I am using version 4.7.1. Do you know how to get this working?

[former_member1049183]

It's been 2 1/2 years since this post, can you check on the status? Because if there is still no plan to adapt to .NET Core, I will have to tell all of my clients to move away from SAP.

To be clear, .NET Core is NOT "light." It is not a stripped down version, and it certainly is not from 2010.

[former_member1165982]

Hi Don Williams,

Is Crystal Reports supported for any version of .NET Core?

Thanks.

[former_member34]

Hi there,

You have a question and need help by the community? Instead of posting into an old question thread, it is more helpful for you, if you create your own question. Here is how to get started:

1. Learn about asking and answering questions in SAP Community with this tutorial: https://developers.sap.com/tutorials/community-qa.html
2. Ask your detailed question here: https://answers.sap.com/questions/ask.html
3. Wait for a response.

That's it. Thank you!

Best regards

Jennifer

Your SAP Community moderator

[former_member11696]

Ah, yes, I misread that info on the MS link I posted, sorry about that...

See CR for VS platform link -

SAP Crystal Reports, Developer Version for Microsoft Visual Studio – Supported Platforms

Supported .NET Framework Versions page 9.

I'll ping R&D to see if there are any plans to support that version. I doubt it since CR is very dependent on the full Platform. VS 2010 used to default to the Client version, we did not support it... So likely since this is a "light" version I doubt we support it also, likely MS just renamed it...

Don

[Former Member]

Perfect.

So this means that ASP.NET Core 2.0, targeting .NET Framework 4.7 is supported, correct?

You've been incredibly helpful, thanks again.

[former_member11696]

We support what Microsoft supports, so if they deprecate a framework we can no longer support it either.

When it comes to Windows OS's and dependencies search MSDN for End of Life or Life Cycle and when MS stops supporting something we no longer support it either.

We went to VC 2015 runtime and 3.5 Framework because MS could only use Legacy mode for their ADO (XML) driver when using 2.0 framework.

You will likely run into other issues if you must stay on 2.0 framework.

See this MS article on ASP.NET Core 4.x -

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/

Time to upgrade also, we don't actually support hat version, see the Platform doc on the download page.

Don

[Former Member]

Thanks for your reply, Don.

I believe we are talking about different things...

As you know, Microsoft now has 2 frameworks: one is called .NET Framework, and the other is called .NET Core. The latest version of the full .NET framework is 4.7.1, and the latest version of .NET Core is 2.0. Microsoft fully supports both of these.

To make things even more confusing, the newest version of ASP.NET is called ASP.NET Core, and version number is 2.0 as well. Now, ASP.NET Core may target both the full .NET framework as well as .NET Core.

What I'm asking (and what the original poster asked as well) is if Crystal Reports is supported on ASP.NET Core 2.0, targeting .NET Core 2.0. We are not talking about the very old .NET framework 2.0; we're talking about .NET Core and ASP.NET Core 2.0, which are the most recent technologies from Microsoft.

Thank you for your help.

[former_member11696]

Correct, MS CORE is the same as the VS 2010 Client Framework. Not supported. Even though MS calls it version 2 it's still the client version. We've never supported it and still don't.

It's stripped down version of 4.x framework, CR requires the full version.

Don

[former_member11696]

Yes but only up to SP 20, SP 21 now supports 3.5 and above due to MS deprecating VS 2005 C++ runtime, you will be using an unsupported platform now.

GO here:

https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/Crystal+Reports%2C+Developer+for+Visual+Studio+Downloads

Click the download link and change the link from 21 to 20

Don

[Former Member]

Does this mean that ASP.NET Core will not be supported at all in future versions of Crystal Reports?