VS 2012 with Crystal Reports 13 having report.load(strFileName) issue

[Former Member]

VS 2012 with Crystal Reports 13, Web reports taking over a minute to load some times and not others. 

Code:

        using (ReportDocument repDoc1 = new ReportDocument())

        {

            DateTime dteStart = DateTime.Now;

            dteDoneFlag = dteStart;

            repDoc1.Load(strFileName);

            DateTime dteEnd = DateTime.Now;

          storeDelay(fcnDelayed(  dteStart,dteEnd));

     ...

     }

public static string fcnDelayed( DateTime dteStart, DateTime dteEnd)
        {
            TimeSpan strDiff = (dteEnd - dteStart);
            string strMinutes = strDiff.Minutes.ToString();
            string strSeconds = strDiff.Seconds.ToString();
            string strMilSeconds = strDiff.Milliseconds.ToString();
            return strMinutes + "Min" + strSeconds + "Sec" + strMilSeconds + "MS since: " + dteStart;
        }

Example times:

1Min32Sec141MS since: 4/10/2013 10:27:36 AM

0Min2Sec125MS since: 4/10/2013 10:27:35 AM

0Min0Sec984MS since: 4/10/2013 10:14:37 AM

1Min38Sec516MS since: 4/10/2013 10:07:23 AM

1Min39Sec672MS since: 4/10/2013 10:07:22 AM

0Min0Sec312MS since: 4/10/2013 9:45:08 AM

0Min0Sec187MS since: 4/10/2013 9:45:07 AM

0Min0Sec296MS since: 4/10/2013 9:45:03 AM

0Min0Sec171MS since: 4/10/2013 9:43:00 AM

1Min4Sec219MS since: 4/10/2013 9:36:41 AM

1Min5Sec187MS since: 4/10/2013 9:36:40 AM

1Min36Sec875MS since: 4/10/2013 9:34:42 AM

1Min38Sec578MS since: 4/10/2013 9:34:41 AM

1Min37Sec906MS since: 4/10/2013 9:34:41 AM

1Min39Sec735MS since: 4/10/2013 9:34:39 AM

1Min36Sec31MS since: 4/10/2013 9:06:46 AM

1Min37Sec172MS since: 4/10/2013 9:06:45 AM

0Min1Sec265MS since: 4/10/2013 9:00:55 AM

0Min1Sec328MS since: 4/10/2013 9:00:54 AM

1Min25Sec781MS since: 4/10/2013 9:00:19 AM

1Min26Sec891MS since: 4/10/2013 9:00:18 AM

I tried every solution I could find, to include subreport, printer, and running a throw away report, but no consistant solution was found.  Threading one report first seems to help the latter most of the time but still undependable. 

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Hugh

[former_member183750 · Accepted solution]

Hello Hugh

First, make sure you are using Service Pack 5:

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

Next. I am not sure what the load process is. E.g.; on 1st load of a report, you will notice a that there is a longer delay as opposed to refreshing or loading a 2nd report.

So, I suppose the question is which of the following scenarios are you testing;

A)

Start the exe that loads the report

Close the report

View the report again without restarting the app

B)

Start the exe that loads the report

Close the app

Restart the app

In A, you'd have an initial slow report load. Subsequent loads would be faster.

In B, all report loads would be slow (equivalent to first load in A).

Oh. Also, don't test in the VS IDE. Test a compiled exe (it was my assumption that you are using compiled exe, but...)

- Ludek

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[Former Member · Accepted solution]

You wrote:>I am not sure what the load process is.

Sorry, I did not give you enough of the code and explanation.

In a .Net application that runs Crystal Reports it does the following:

// Create a new Report object

CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.ReportDocument repDoc1 = new CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.ReportDocument();

//

//     The load is where our site is having the slowness difficulty

//     and is the focus of my request (see original request for help)

//

//     Load the report into the report object

repDoc1.Load(strFileName);

//

//     The load is where our site is having the slowness difficulty

//     and is the focus of my request (see original request for help)

//

//     Check the loaded report for needed parameters to satisfy

int intParams = repDoc1.ParameterFields.Count;

//     if Parameters are found then provide inputs to satisfy them

for (int Index_I = 0; Index_I < intParams; Index_I++)

   {

   repDoc.SetParameterValue(repDoc.ParameterFields[Index_I].Name, "SomeValue");

   }

//     Logon to the database

repDoc.SetDatabaseLogon(strDBUserName, strPwd);

//  display the report

this.crViewer.ReportSource = rdRtnVal;

<br>You wrote:>First, make sure you are using Service Pack 5

On April 1st I installed CRforVS_13_0_5.exe on my workstation where I run Visual Studio 2012.

and on the server I installed the contents of :

http://downloads.businessobjects.com/akdlm/cr4vs2010/CRforVS_redist_install_64bit_13_0_5.zip

So I believe I am running service pack 5.

[former_member183750 · Accepted solution]

Good. Now then the question is; do you see the slow performance when you 1st load the report only and on subsequent loads / refresh it is faster?

- Ludek

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

To overcome the slow first load performance issue I am using threads.  I start loading the report in one thread, start the next thread wait for the first thread to respond with a loading flag plus 5000 milliseconds then start the report loading again and use the second load for displaying.

[former_member183750 · Accepted solution]

Well, all I can say is; the Universe works in weird ways - not sure about the wonderful part.

Anyhow, I am just in the process of "writing" an article on how this threading actually works. It's a bit counterintuitive, but threading will produce just the results you are seeing. I am attaching a beat of the article. The issue was actually investigated by someone with more gray mater than me. And he penned his results in this article. All I'm going to do is rewrite is so it's nice looking and then publish it.

Download the attachment. Unzip it, rename the unzipped file to *.DOC and have a read.

- Ludek

Processing print jobs using the Crystal Reports Component Engine.txt.zip

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your assistance.

It appears that our problem was solved by:

Phase 1:

- Installed the latest Crystal Reports

- Used a thread to start loading the report and another to run the report for display (this fixed 80 percent of our noticable slow down)

- Revising the thread process to verify the first thread not only stared but has 5000 milleseconds head start before alowing the second thread to start loading.

- Capturing the load times for each report to use in phase 2

Phase 2: Looked closely at each report that continued to have long load times identified in phase 1 :

   - Fixed printer issues (see below)

   - Removed replaced if statements in queries with case statements

   - Stopped reports from storing data

   - Fixed subreports

Phase 3: Once problem reports showed significant improvment, we made the same changes as in Phase 2 to all of our Crystal Reports report files bringing our time to load into the milliseconds.

Load times example:

0Min0Sec640MS since: 4/11/2013 3:35:22 PM

0Min0Sec578MS since: 4/11/2013 3:28:07 PM

0Min0Sec406MS since: 4/11/2013 3:26:58 PM

0Min0Sec453MS since: 4/11/2013 3:26:49 PM

0Min0Sec859MS since: 4/11/2013 3:23:42 PM

0Min0Sec499MS since: 4/11/2013 3:00:29 PM

0Min0Sec93MS since: 4/11/2013 2:43:30 PM

0Min0Sec250MS since: 4/11/2013 2:42:39 PM

0Min0Sec359MS since: 4/11/2013 2:42:32 PM

0Min0Sec359MS since: 4/11/2013 2:41:02 PM

0Min0Sec93MS since: 4/11/2013 2:37:20 PM

0Min0Sec109MS since: 4/11/2013 2:35:27 PM

0Min0Sec281MS since: 4/11/2013 2:27:15 PM

0Min0Sec437MS since: 4/11/2013 2:23:41 PM

0Min0Sec546MS since: 4/11/2013 2:13:54 PM

0Min0Sec640MS since: 4/11/2013 2:11:47 PM

0Min0Sec468MS since: 4/11/2013 1:59:54 PM

0Min0Sec500MS since: 4/11/2013 1:58:38 PM

0Min0Sec390MS since: 4/11/2013 1:56:20 PM

0Min0Sec468MS since: 4/11/2013 1:53:15 PM

0Min0Sec671MS since: 4/11/2013 1:45:20 PM

0Min0Sec656MS since: 4/11/2013 1:40:57 PM

Here is the research that brought me to this point:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vscrystalreports/thread/a583c91a-6e06-4613-93f8-56ed9c...

Could be the Report is looking for the default printer when the report was loaded or it may be trying to connect to the original datasource again when the report was created if you have any of the Verify Database Options enabled in the report.

Thank you

Don

---

Don Williams

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vscrystalreports/thread/a583c91a-6e06-4613-93f8-56ed9c...

http://support.resortdata.com/Customers/Knowledge/KB-RDPWin/KWin0007.htm

Some Crystal Reports were loading very slowly in both RDPWin and in the  Crystal Designer.  The problem usually only manifests itself when there are  subreports in the report.  The more subreports, the longer the load time.  The  owner statement report was taking almost a minute to load.

The real problem is that Crystal Reports use the printer driver to format the  report.  This printer driver is stored as part of the report.  Some printer  drivers cause the formatting to take a long time.  By defining "No Printer" as  part of the main report and ALL subreports, a generic driver is used, which is  much faster for formatting.  This does not effect the format of the report, when  it is finally printed since the driver for the printer chosen at this time is  used.  With the owner statement reconfigured, it now takes less than a second to  load.

Subreports that are an external file have one copy on the disk in the report  file and another copy in the main report.  The two subreports are not the same.   If changes are made to the external file, the copy in the main report is not  changed.  The subreport must be re-imported in order to get the new changes.   So, all the subreport external files must be changed to No Printer and then  re-imported into the main report.  The steps below outline this procedure.

Reports that don't have and subreports seem to load quickly with or without  the "No Printer" being checked, so changing those reports is optional.  All RDP  standard Crystal Reports will be changed to the "No Printer" setting.

Steps to Changing Existing Reports

Main Report:

1. Open the main report in Crystal Designer and check to see what subreports  are in this report.  These are the items with a ".rpt" at the end of the name.   If the mouse is placed over the item, the mouse over text will begin with  "Subreport:".
2. Choose File->Printer Setup... from the main menu.
3. Click the "No Printer" check box and save.  Save the report at this point,  but don't close the report.

Modify All Subreports:

1. Open one of the external file subreports in Crystal Designer.
2. Choose File->Printer Setup... from the main menu.
3. Click the "No Printer" check box and save.
4. Save the subreport and close it.
5. Repeat the steps above for all subreports in the main report.

Continue with Main Report:

1. Go back to the main report in Crystal Designer.
2. Right click on a subreport and choose "Re-import subreport".
3. A warning will appear, answer "Yes".
4. Repeat the steps above for all subreports in the main report.
5. Save the main report and close it.
6. Open the main report to test to make sure it loads instantaneously.

http://support.resortdata.com/Customers/Knowledge/KB-RDPWin/KWin0007.htm

Re: Crystal Reports slow loading/formatting

Ludek Uher        Dec 19, 2008 3:58 PM                                    (in response to DARRYL SMITH)               

There is a number of great posts on this forum regarding load times for a report. Typically, these are the places to start to troubleshoot the issue:
1) disable verify on first refresh option  (File | Report Options)
2) disable verify stored procedure on first refresh option  (File | Report Options)
3) ole object not where the report expects it to be
4) subreport option "Re-import when opening" is enabled (right click the subreport(s), choose format subreport, look at the subreport tab)
5) Specific printer is set for the report and the printer does not exist. Try the "No printer" option (File | Page setup)
For your situation, I'd start with investigating at point #5.
Other places to look for ideas:
Better user experience for slow reports (loading in background, progressbar
Loss of Performance (Start delay 2min.) after Migrating to CR2008
If none of the above helps, confirm that you are using [the latest version of crystal]. Also, is this a web or a win app?
Ludek
http://scn.sap.com/thread/1173036

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Here is an example of the code I used to do the thread and syncronize them so it was consistently loading the first (throw away report) one first:

I hope this helps the next guy or gal fighting VS and Crystal Reports delays

using CrystalDecisions.Shared;

using CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine;

using CrystalDecisions.Web;

using System.Threading;

public partial class threadCRpt : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    public static string strFileName = string.Empty;
    public static DateTime dteDoneFlag = DateTime.Now.AddDays(1); 
    public static int intDelay = 6000;

    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
            Response.Buffer = true;
      ...
            strFileName = MapPath(strReportURL);
            // Start the throw away report load
            Thread td1;
            ThreadStart start = new ThreadStart(RptThread1);
            td1 = new Thread(start);
            td1.Start();

            // Call as a function the second, no new thread needed.
            RptThread2();
    }
}

// Threads can not accept parameters... so passing variable as globals
protected void RptThread1()
{
    using (ReportDocument repDoc1 = new ReportDocument())
    {
        DateTime dteStart = DateTime.Now;
        // Set date flag so RptThread2 knows I am starting the first load
        dteDoneFlag = dteStart;
        repDoc1.Load(strFileName);
        DateTime dteEnd = DateTime.Now;
        //  nothing follows as this is used to load a report and nothing else
    }
}

protected void RptThread2()
{
    DateTime dteStart = DateTime.Now;
    try
    {
        using (ReportDocument repDoc = new ReportDocument())
        {
            int intCnt = 0;
            // Waiting on first thread to begin.
            // Wait intdelay time extra (1000 ms was not enough so using 6000ms)

            // Without enough delay both reports load slow
            while (!(dteDoneFlag.AddMilliseconds(intDelay) < dteStart))
            {
                intCnt++;
                Master.lblNoticeText += ".";
                Thread.Sleep(intDelay);
                dteStart = DateTime.Now;
                if (intCnt > 10)
                    break;
            }
            repDoc.Load(strFileName);
            DateTime dteEnd = DateTime.Now;
     ...
        }
    }
...
}

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Followup:  All of our reports are running consistently under 10 seconds and most are running in less then 1 second.

As we discussed the problem we had a point that should be noted came out.  Even though I had fixed all the suggested issues with one report that report as well as most others remained mostly slow until we implemented the threading and identified the 6 reports that were causing all to run slow.  Once we fixed those 6, all reports began running fast. 

This is a hard concept to get my head around, so I thought it worth sharing.  Why would the sins of a few cause all to be slow? 

Also, I do not think I need the threading construct anymore but encourage anyone with slow reports to use it to help identify the few that are causing the problem.

Hugh

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Followup:  Shortly after I posted the last Followup we began having issues with the Application Pool.  The wierd thing was the .Net application would run just fine but Crystal would hang or stall and the quickest way to get it producing reports again was to Recycle the Application Pool that the site was in. 

I tried adjusting the recycling and that seemed to lengthen the duration between hangs but then IIS got so bound up I had to do an iisreset because the app pool would not recycle and when stopped you could not restart the app pool.  Rebooting the server also worked to get things working.

Then after much searching I found a side comment "change the managed pipeline mode of App pool used by app to Classic", so I searched on application pool and found someone say that Crystal has a know problem with application pools running in integrated mode.  I searched on why but could not find anything. 

Hopefully we are fixed now... 

Hugh

[Former Member]

Today we also noticed that if you go back into reports that you fix the printer in and preview that report, the "No Printer" checkbox gets de-selected and has to be re-selected.