COMPILING DISTRIBUTING A CRYSTAL REPORT

[MARTINRODDY]

COULD SOMEONE PLEASE CLARIFY THE DIFFERENCE OF COMPILING AND DISTRIBUTING A REPORT IN CRYSTAL V7.

I WISH TO HAVE A STAND-ALONE FILE TO PLACE ON A PUBLIC DRIVE FOR ALL TO SEE.

THE STEPS I AM TAKING ARE:

1: Report>Compile Report. I filled out the name of the compiled report
2: Then I go through the Report Distribution Expert Filling out the destination etc.
3: I then build the report
4: When I go to open the compiled report on the network the following print engine error appears "Invalid Filename"


I would be gratful if someone could shed somelight on this.

Martin

 

[kenhamady]

Compiling the report creates the EXE.
However, the EXE is NOT a standalone file. It is simply a pointer that still requires 2 partner files for each report (RPT and CRF) and it also requires the runtime engine files (CRPE32.dll and friends). The distribution process creates an install disk with everything on it that is needed to run the report(s). You install the distribution set on the target PC. Ken Hamady

http://www.kenhamady.com/

Crystal Reports Training/Consulting and a
Quick Reference Guide to VB/Crystal (including ADO)

 

[emcevoy]

Hello

If you are going to give this report to someone who does not Cyrstal Reports, you will need to distribute the report. This will take to the distribution expert. The distribution expert will create a set of runtime files, as Ken has stated, that will be needed on the client machine in order to view compiled reports.

To distribute the compiled report, you will first require the user to run the setup.exe that gets created by the distribution expert to install the runtime. Once this has been completed, they will be able to view the compiled reports. The user only needs to do this once on each client machine.

When ever you wish to give the user compiled report, you will only need to go to the Report|Compile Report and answer NO to the "distribute report". This will create two files in the same directory as the compiled report. One is the .exe and the other is a .crf. They will have the same name as the .rpt file.

Distribute the .exe, the .crf and the .rpt file to any clients who have installed the runtime from the distribution. All three files must be in the same directory for the compiled report to run.

Hope this helps.
E. McEvoy
Crystal Reports Consultant

http://www.pacificridgesolutions.com

 

[edteck]

Hello EMcEvoy,

I have a conumdrum with regard to distributing crystal reports (v.7). I compiled crystal reports recently and distributed them to clients who have not got crystal, via the intranet. I ran the exe on their machines and all is well, the reports print. However, they can be opened only in the public directory. Subsequently I e-mailed compiled reports (exe.,crf.,rpt) to one or two users. They will not open in say "MyFolder" but if they are dropped into the public folder they open. Any views?

 

[emcevoy]

Hi there

What you might want to look at is the rights to the files, the crf file needs to have read/write access, if the folder that these files are in, it will have a problem. Also, where is "MyFolder" compared to where the "public" folder would be. E. McEvoy
Crystal Reports Consultant

http://www.pacificridgesolutions.com