Embeddable Crystal Reports Designer Control formula error

[Former Member]

We are using the embeddable designer control in Crystal Reports XI with VB6 and are experiencing error 5 (invalid procedure call or argument) when trying to add a new formula field for a sub report (no problems when adding a formula on the main report) . Works fine when run from VB6 but crashes from the built executable. I have upgraded to SP4 but it hasnt helped.

Can anyone help?

[former_member200290 · Accepted solution]

As it works in the VB designer and not as a stand-alone executable it tells me one of a few things are happening:

1 - The executable is picking up different dll's then you VB application. You could test this by going to our download area and downloading Modules, an application that will tell you what dlls are currently loaded by an application, then compare the two lists. It could be mis-matched dll's or the runtime is unable to pick up a custom UFL needed by the formula. This is even more likely if this is happening on two different machines.

2 - VB runtime is handling something different then the design time. I recall seeing this behaviour before, though not specifically your scenerio. If this is the case then there really isn't anything that can be done. In the other scenerio I seem to recall everything worked fine in VB designer, C++ design and runtime, and Delphi design and runtime, however VB runtime failed. Unfortunately I don't know the exact scenerio, or if there was some sort of work-around as this was probably over 5 years ago...

3 - Not very likely but possibily it could be the formula you are adding. Have you tried a simple formula like "true" just to return true? If a simple formula works perhaps it is your more complex one that has an issue? Like mentioned in #1 perhaps missing a UFL?

4 - Least likely of all is it could be a printer issue item, try turning on the "no printer" option in the report.

Trevor

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Trevor,

Thanks for your excellent response but sadly it hasnt helped:

1 - The dlls are identical. I can reproduce the problem on a single machine

2 - Im worried this might be true

3 - I dont get as far as creating the formula - the crash occurs after entering the name and hitting OK

4 - no, that didnt work either.

Im wondering if i should upgrade to XI release 2 or 2008 though i would rather not if i can help it.

Thanks

Boris

[former_member200290 · Accepted solution]

Well moving to XI R2 would be fine, however I would not recommend moving to CR 2008 as it no longer supports these COM objects.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Trevor,

Thanks for that. Apart from anything else you have saved me considerable time upgrading to 2008 and finding i would have major problems.

Boris

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

I've seen this happen in C++ and due to the debug version of the dll's is different than the Release versions.

It's likely some error handling in the VB GUI that your app doesn't handle. Try adding error trapping where ever you can to narrow down what function in VB or CR that is causing this to happen. May be a permission issue on a VB Common control that your app at runtime doesn't have access to.

You could use Filemon and Regmon from www.sysinternals.com may help. Could even be a registry entry... Look for date stamps on the files, they may be the same name but different versions or date stamps.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Don, Thanks for your comments. I have checked the dlls and they are the same when running in vb and when running the executable. And because the control is a Crystal control i have very little control over what it does and have nowhere (that i can see, at least) where i can put any error trapping. Thanks Boris

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi Boris,

Wrap all your functions using the try/catch to see which one is causing the issue. It may not be a CR function causing the problem.

Also, you may want to purchase a case and have a dedicated Support Engineer handle this issue. You can then pass sample app's a code back and forth to test.

Thanks again

Don

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Don,

We are going to try CR 11 version 2 as we need to upgrade for VIsta so fingers crossed that might fix the problem otherwise i think we will consider purchasing a case.

I'll let you know how we get on.

Thanks

Boris

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi Boris,

The RDC and Vista is definietely not supported. IF you are going to upgrade what you really should do is move to CR 2008 and upgrade to .NET 2005 or 2008. The RDC is old COM technolgy which Vista has problems with. And also because the RDC is old deprecated report engine even if there is a problem found we won't fix it. It's simply a matter of resources. There are better a newer technolgies to move to.

I see you have a case logged in SMP now and being that you are in EMEA we'll leave it for one of the local Engineers to assist you with.

I'll mark this posting as completed.

Thank you again and have a great day

Don

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi guys,

I take over and will work with Boris directly on that,

thanks for all your good hints and assists so far

Falk

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Falk,

I was wondering if you had got any further with the problem we are facing?

I haven't received any feedback from you yet.

Regards,

Boris.

Edited by: Boris Cousins on Oct 21, 2008 11:25 AM

I was under the impression that Crystal Rreports 20008 no longer came with a Crystal Reports Designer Control, or am I mistaken?