Deployment Crystal Reports 2013 SP4 Run By Automation Tool Exception For

[Former Member]

SAP Customer Service: Welcome to SAP. How may I assist you today?

MJ at 13:58, Apr 27: We have some reports created in Crystal Reports 2013 SP4. MJ at 13:59, Apr 27: The reports run fine in our existing production environment using a .NET automation application known as VisualCron.

MJ at 13:59, Apr 27: VisualCron is a vendor supplied app.

MJ at 14:00, Apr 27: We are currently in the process of upgrading that vendor app and have run into a Roadblock.

MJ at 14:00, Apr 27: We installed the Crystal Runtime for Visual Studio SP21.

MJ at 14:00, Apr 27: Vendor indicates they support this configuration

MJ at 14:01, Apr 27: The reports now exception with the following:

MJ at 14:01, Apr 27: The type initializer for 'CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.ReportDocument' threw an exception. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {4DB2E2BB-78E6-4AEA-BEFB-FDAAB610FD1B} failed due to the following error: 80040154 Class not registered (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040154 (REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG)).

MJ at 14:02, Apr 27: As far as we can tell everything we have configured is setup for 64 bit including ODBC's and vendor app is.

MJ at 14:03, Apr 27: It's a significant enough roadblock were considering setting up a box on the old version and stuffing it in a corner SAP Customer Service at 14:04, Apr 27: I understand.

SAP Customer Service at 14:04, Apr 27: Okay, so I found something on the side of Microsoft... You can take a look at the link below.

SAP Customer Service at 14:04, Apr 27: Microsoft Error resolves

MJ at 14:06, Apr 27: That is a good link. There are lot of articles about IIS settings. This server does not have IIS installed.

SAP Customer Service at 14:07, Apr 27: Oh dear...Okay, so what I would recommend in this case is posting a question via our SAP Community as well as the Microsoft Community.

SAP Customer Service at 14:07, Apr 27: There are experts in this field that would be able to help guide you through resolving this.

The key takeaways for helping towards resolution.

Reports created in Crystal Reports 2013 SP4 (Not Visual Studio)

Vendor app VisualCron runs the reports

Vendor app is .NET Version 4.5.2

We do not own the .NET app and are not developing it in Visual Studio. VS based solutions are nonviable in this case.

Not running on IIS.

It is a standalone app running these reports.

Reports run successfully on a prior version of app

Guidance from vendor indicates to ensure we are running only 64 bit mode.

ODBC connections are 64 bit based only.

Installed Visual Studio Crystal run-time is 64 bit only

Assistance towards resolution is welcome and appreciated.

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

On that download page is a XML file attached to it. add that to your exe folder and then SP 20 and previous will continue to work.

Needed to read a little more...

Don

[Former Member]

For those who may be looking for the answer ... here is what we found out and how we verified it.

The automation tool is no longer compatible with Crystal Reports built using Service Pack 20 or less. Crystal SP21 is effectively a major upgrade that changed version numbers and is no longer backward compatible with Crystal Reports built using SP20 or less. SAP does not support side-by-side installation of SP21+ with SP20 or less. Technically, it is not an SAP change that forced the incompatibility. Microsoft deprecated VC 2005 C++ runtime and SAP previously used it. SAP now uses VC 2015 C++ runtime which requires 3.5 framework minimum to work.

• 1.)Install Crystal Run-Time SP13 to Match Crystal Developer 2013 SP4: Installed Crystal Run Time SP13 and VC 8.3.2. CR SP 13 installed all the DLL’s required to run rpt’s including specifically sacommlayer.dll. Ran VC Unit Tests for Crystal.

• a.Outcome = exceptions

• b.Exception in Task: Could not load file or assembly 'CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.DataDefModel, Version=13.0.3500.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=692fbea5521e1304' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

• c.DLL PATH = C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Crystal Reports for .NET Framework 4.0\Common\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\win64_x64\sacommlayer.dll

• 2.)Install Crystal Run-Time SP21 to Match Automation Tool Requirement. MSI installed new DLL’s. MSI uninstalled dll’s installed by SP13, including sacommlayer.dll. Ran VC Unit Tests for Crystal.

• a.Outcome = exceptions

• b.Exception in Task: The type initializer for 'CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.ReportDocument' threw an exception. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {4DB2E2BB-78E6-4AEA-BEFB-FDAAB610FD1B} failed due to the following error: 80040154 Class not registered (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040154 (REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG)).

• c.Verified CLSID {4DB2E2BB-78E6-4AEA-BEFB-FDAAB610FD1B} corresponded in registry to sacommlayer.dll on the test server before it was uninstalled by SP21. Noted dll Path in prior step no longer contains sacommlayer.dll

• 3.)Determination: Crystal Developer 2013 SP4 reports are not compatible with Runtime SP21. Automation Tool supports SP21+ and does not currently support multiple side by side of old and new Crystal Run-Time versions.

Confirmation From SAP regarding incompatibility: https://answers.sap.com/questions/339184/older-applications-and-13021xxx-runtime-is-install.html

[Former Member]

Appreciate your response Don.

Action: Reviewed the hyperlinked page again. Your feedback helped me notice the section "By default Windows 10 does not install the 3.5 framework, CR for VS still needs it. Select it by “Turn Windows feature on or off” and choose both options.". Verified this feature installation. Found .NET 3.5 was partially installed/checked but both sub-items were unchecked/not installed. Checked them both Windows Communication Foundation (non-)HTTP Activation. .NET 3.5 update completed. Restart test upgrade server.

Outcome: OK NET 3.5 Now shows both checked for Windows Communication Foundation (non-)HTTP Activation.

Action: Reran automation unit test jobs on test upgrade box (Windows 7).

Outcome: FAIL - Each fails with same exception as before full installation of .NET 3.5. Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {4DB2E2BB-78E6-4AEA-BEFB-FDAAB610FD1B} failed due to the following error: 80040154 Class not registered.

Action: Verified Microsoft Windows Update KB2999226 a prerequisite for SP21 is installed on the Windows 7 test box

Outcome: OK Successfully verified and is installed

Feedback from Vendor: VisualCron, the automation vendor has indicated "we have a lot of users that have upgraded to latest without problems with Crystal reports."

Current State: Have followed up with vendor to verify the compile is done to the new version numbers ... the Quest continues for a resolution...

[former_member11696]

Crystal reports no longer ships the .NET SDK.

You get that from here but check with the Vendor to see what version they support:

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

Have the vendor read the info for SP 21 on that page, they need to recompile their app and redistribute it once it's been updated to the 3.5 version of the assemblies.

Don