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Crystal Reports ActiveX Designer Failed to open document

Former Member
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Yesterday I created a report in Visual Studio 2008 with about 20 subreports, each subreport containing a single aggregate query (i.e count or sum). I then saved the report file. Hours later when I attempted to reopen the report in Visual Studio I recived the message box "Crystal Reports ActiveX Designer Failed to open document". The report file was completely unusable - it could not be opened for editting.

Today I repeated the process twice (once ith multiple subreports and once with all aggregate queries combined in a single subreport), only to have the new report files become unusable with the same error message. I am completely shocked at this behaviour from Crystal Reports. I have now spent 10+ hours with no usable report. I realy need a fix for this ASAP!!! Any suggestions would be greatlhy appreciated.

Accepted Solutions (1)

Accepted Solutions (1)

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Hello,

Need more info.

Do you have [Service Pack 1|https://smpdl.sap-ag.de/~sapidp/012002523100009351512008E/crbasic2008sp1.exe] installed for CR for .NET 2008.

Can you reopen the report within VS IDE after saving it? If you can then start removing parts from the report and then run it and find out what part is causing the problem.

Second, it could be where you are saving it. Check your folder permissions?

When you run the report is this a Windows or a WEB app?

Use Process Monitor, from Microsoft, and go through the log and look for Access Denied Errors or similar. It may be your app doesn't have access to dependencies. Try running it by right clicking on the exe and selecting Run As Administrator.

Do you have a standalone copy of Crystal Reports to test the report in?

Don

Former Member
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Hi Don,

Thanks for you response

As I stated earlier I am using Visual Studio 2008 - to be more precise with SP1. I do nothave stand alone Crytsla Reports

I stated I am unable to open the report after saving and closing. Ther are no messages when saving or closing. The reported message occurs when I try to open the report file in Visual Studio. I am saving in my local project folder where i have full permissions. The project is a simple Windows app.

Not sure if that clarifies the problem for you. I am totally baffled why Crystal Reports is saving the file in a state that cannot be opened - and how it would even be possible to detect this is the case until it is too late.

Best regards,

Jeff

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Hi Jeff,

Just wanted to confirm you were on SP1.

I've found that these types of error are usually due to corrupt system files or sometimes even Anti-virus software denying access. If there is no error it's not CR corrupting the file.

Look in your AV logs to see if it's logging anything.

Another possibility is with MS pushing out patches they can also cause problems. I've see them change permissions on our dependencies that can cause problems.

Sorry I can't be specific but without seeing your report or any details you'll have to determine at which step in the report it stops working.

Can you save any reports now?

Steps to debug, create a new report with no subreports and save it. Then re-open, if that works then start adding one subreport and then save/open. It may be something related to either the subreports or the number of subreports.

You could try doing a repair install of VS and SP1.

Was this working at one time or is this something new, do you have other reports that are similar that have problems?

You need to debug the report and find out what is causing it to be corrupted. Try adding the 20th subreport and then delete it also.

Don

Former Member
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Hi Don,

I think I have succeeded in working around this issue - aalthough it's still not clear what caused the issue. I created a store procedure that conatins all of the data logic previously contained in the crystal report. I now pass in the report parameters and recieve 27 aggegrate values from the stored procedure. All the report has to do is display the values. It now does this. So I don't know why the report was capable of doing the processing without error while I designed the report and subsequently not even being readable by the activex designer. Sounds like a serious bug to me - but perhaps I am the only one in the universe to ever encounter it.

Thank you for you helpful suggestions - I have attempted to vote for them.

Best regards,

Jeff

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Hi Jeff,

Great you found a work around. It could be the DB client you are using.

Try using a different ODBC or OLE DB driver or... It may be the DB client can't handle what it was you were doing. I've seen this type of thing when the Client Buffer runs out or too many connections are opened at one time. The main report will make a connection and then each subreport will also make a connection. Some client or DBA Admins will only allow a certain amount of open connections to be active.

If you want to continue then let me know what Drivers you are using and how you are connecting. It may be that CR does need to handle the exception rather than corrupting the report or making it unreadable.

If not please mark as answered.

Don

former_member292966
Active Contributor
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Hi Jeff,

I've run into this problem with subreports as well. If you have the stand-alone version of Crystal Reports, open the report there. I was getting error messages trying to open the report in the designer.

I removed 1 subreport at a time, saving and closing the report each time. Eventually I was able to open the report without an error which led to a subreport that wasn't working properly.

I went back to the original report, right-clicked the corrupted report and selected Save Subreport As. Then I deleted the subreport and saved the report. Exited and opened again to make sure it still opened fine.

I added the subreport back in and made sure my links were correct. Checked and made sure the report ran correctly. Saved it and added it back into my VS project.

Report ran fine in Visual Studio. With 20+ subreports in your report it's very possible this could be what you are running into.

Good luck,

Brian

Answers (0)