vb6 and cr2008 using interop toolkit

[Former Member]

Hello,

I am using vb6. I have just attempted to upgrade to crxi, but have found a bug in crystal reports that loses some of the data returned off a pervasive database. Business Objects admits there's a bug but isn't going to fix it: they suggest upgrading to cr2008. (they also suggest using crxi with ODBC, but it is much too slow).

I know that vb6 cannot directly access cr2008. What if I built a user control in visual studio .net that uses cr2008, use the interop forms toolkit 2.0 to adapt the user control to a com object, and then use in vb6? Has anyone done this? Would it work?

Thanks,

Dan

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Don,

from Crystal Reports representative:

--This issue has been tracked in our earlier versions of Crystal Reports and an adapt raised, the

ADAPT numbers are ADAPT00377829 and ADAPT00377834.

--For some reasons the product group rejected these adapts and there is no fix was released.

--Now there is a fresh ADAPT raised and the ADAPT number is ADAPT1094479.

--This new ADAPT was fixed in CR 2008 Fix Pack 2.

<note: I could only find the first number DM>

my problem is that with pervasive native calls, linking tables causes data to disappear-- although the data appears if the table is by itself. Quite a bad problem.

We are planning to upgrade to visual studio and .net, but it is going to be a very difficult transition. in the meantime, I have to get our reports running.

You mention using the assemblies. Is there a way to do that by vb6? I thought that wasn't possible.

Do you think creating a user control and using the interop toolkit will work? Has anyone else done it?

thanks,

Dan

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi Dan,

Thank you for the numbers. It was a timing issue why it was originally closed for XI and XI R2. No one else re-opened the original so it was only fixed in CR 2008.

I don't believe you will have very much success using the interop. And yes VS 6 does not support .NET framework or CR assemblies.

SP2 for CR 2008 should be out soon or if you don't wnat to upgrade to .NET then I can add a branch in Adapt for the RDC and CR XI R2. You'll have to upgrade to R2 ( 11.5 ) which you can do for free by simply downloading the product from our site and using your XI (11.0) keycode.

It will take time to roll back the changes, if they can, sometimes these changes can't be rolled back. So it's not a for sure fix. Let me know if you want this fixed for CR XI R2 and I'll add the branch and get the process started.

Thank you

Don

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Don,

Yes please get the process started to fix the problem in crxi r2. That would be great, as this problem is causing us a lot of stress. What would the time frame look like?

By the way, I am already on crxir2 (11.5.11.1470) We have been working with merge modules from sp4.

thank you!

Dan

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi Dan,

Not sure how long it will take, we can never be sure. All depends on how busy R&D is and other high level issues push this one down the list.

The TE is 5000005421. Looking this number up internally will tell us the status.

I should know more in about a week or so when it gets assigned to an Escalation Engineer to set up the test machine for the developer to use.

Thanks again

Don

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Gentlemen,

I'm new to the forum and from reading your posts you're much more advanced in using Crystal. However, I believe I'm having a similar problem. I've written an application using VB6 and it needs to access Crystal 11 to generate reports I have predesigned for the end-user. End-user just needs to generate reports to screen or printer; no designer at all. Everything works fine from my development machine, but I can't seem to deploy the Crystal runtimes to the end-users machine, because when they try to run the reports they get nothing. If I'm understanding your earlier posts I need to get on CR 11 R2 and use 'merge modules' to create my distribution package from VB6. Is this correct? Thanks in advance for any assistance.

MGW

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi MGW,

You are asking something new. Please post a new question.

Bottom line is VB6 does not support Merge Modules. You'll need to use Install Shield or something like that to build your distribution package. Lots of posting for building distribution packages, search first before posting the same wuestion that has already been answered.

Thank you

Don

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi All, this has been ported back to CR XI R2 and will be available in SP6.

ADAPT01274636

[former_member11696]

Hi Dan,

You may want to download CR Xi R2 and apply all the patches. It may have been fixed in that version. Your XI ( 11.0 ) keycode will work with R2 ( 11.5 ) and it's a free download.

Otherwise if you are going to use .NET to develop an interop with why not just use the CR .net Assemblies? If you run into any issues we can then fix them.

What bug are you referring to? Do you have an Adapt number or escalation ID?

Thanks

Don