Tutorial on setting up and using Crystal XI with Visual Basic 2010 WinForm?

[Former Member]

I have been searching the internet (Google) and these forums but have been unable to find a tutorial on what Crystal pieces to install for Crystal XI. I am using Visual Basic 2010 and trying to create a WinForms project.

My developement environment is Windows 7 64 bit. The client workstations can be either XP or Win  7 (32 or 64 bit).

I believe I need two pieces of information.

1. Which Crystal pieces need to  be installed on my 64 bit Win 7 development computer? Is there a particular order they need to be installed? Do I need to do anything else after the install package has run?

2. Since these programs will be distributed to clients with different data sources (SQL Server names, Database names, user names and passwords are different. Also Parameters need to be passed.), I need to programatically change the connection information for the report. I have this working in Visual Studio 2008 with a report that was developed in Visual Studio 2008. However, I do not seem to be able to get this code to work with a Visual Basic 2010 project. I would appreciate tutorial that contains the appropriate code, along with what pieces to include in the VB project and how to deal with the 64 Bit/32 bit client workstation issue.

If these two tutorial do not exist but I am able to get this working with the assistance of forum memebers, I will create the tutorials when we are finished for others to reference in the future.

Thanks,

pat

[former_member183750 · Accepted solution]

CR XI is not supported with VS2010.

Only Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010 (CRVS2010) will work with VS 2010. You can download the install of CRVS2010 as well as runtime files from here:

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-7824

Developer Help files are here:

SAP Crystal Reports .NET API Guide

SAP Crystal Reports .NET SDK Developer Guide

Report Application Server .NET SDK Developer Guide

Report Application Server .NET API Guide

Sample apps:

http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/x/JQBmBQ

http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/x/IgBmBQ

Searching for answers can be done by using the search box in the top right corner of this web page.

- Ludek

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[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Ludek,

Thank you for the prompt and complete answer. It is very much appreciated.

I would like to ask one additional follow-up question.

Many of the reports I want to build/modify and utilize are from an ERP system. I would like to use the ERP system's Crystal reports rather than creating them from scratch. That ERP system uses Crystal XI. All of my customers have copies of Crystal XI. Can I convert a Crystal XI report into a CRVS2010 report? And if so how?

Thank you,

pat

[former_member183750 · Accepted solution]

You can convert the reports, but you should not need to. CRVS2010 will understand the format of the CR XI reports. The only issue I see is if the ERP reports are using some sort of a metadata layer (universes, query files, dictionaries, etc., etc.) as these more than likely would not be supported outside of the ERP system - depends on the ERP and report design.

To save the reports as version 13 (CRVS2010), you can run them in an app and either export to rpt file format or use the .SaveAs API. But like I said, this should not be necessary. All yo shold need to do is load the report and send it to the viewer / printer / export.

- Ludek

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

UPDATE: IGNORE this Reply.

The error described below occured twice. I tried the same report in two new projects. Both times I receieved the same error. Later I found the solution. Before the project can be BUILT, it must be saved. Once I saved the project and reopened it, the errors disappeared.

I am not sure if this should be a new dicussion or a continuation of this. Please advise.

After installing CRVS2010 and restarting the computer, I created a simple Crystal Report project. The project will display information in the Preview page so I know I have the connection correct.

However, the project contains 4 errors.

The four error say to add references which seem to be already present in the project. The referneces are:

1. CrystalDecisions.Crystalreports.Engine

2. CrystalDecisions.Shared.

Both of these errors are repeated a second time but with different line numbers.

The Import at the top of this Class shows these References as being Imported.

And the Project Property page, Reference section shows:

I also notice the message at the bottom of the page whick states in Green, "No errors in solution". Yet these four errors are listed on the Error tab. These Errors prevent me from Building the Project.

What could be going on?

Thanks,

pat