Package and Deployment Crystal Reports 1

[zivrap]

Hi All,

I posted this thread before but received no replys so I am trying again.

I currently have vb6 pro and cr 8 pro. My vb application is quite simple: it opens a pre made report and allows the user to preview it.

My question is when I use the Package and Deployment wizard, what happens to the .rpt files that the vb application opens?

Are they automatically compiled so they can be used on machines that dont have cr? Or do the reports have to be precompiled and then run the P&D wizard?

What about the dll's and dependencies required by the report file; does the P&D wizard take care of that as well?

I'm just curious about the whole process in general. Thanks for your help.

 

[vidru]

You have CR 8 Professional, and not Developer? It might be a licensing violation to deploy an application using the Crystal runtime files without CR Developer. Read the licensing before continuing.

If that was a typo, you should have a file named Runtime.hlp (the default directory location for the file is C:\Program Files\Seagate Software\Crystal Reports\Developer Files\Help). It lists the .dlls that need to be deployed with the application. Those are dependent upon: the method you're using to access the Crystal Print Engine (RDC, OCX, API, etc.); the data source for the reports; and any other functionality you want to provide (exporting, charting, etc.).

If your reports are called from outside of the application (.rpt files from a known directory), they will not be compiled with the application. You'd have to try to get the P&D wizard to include your Reports directory, and specify the location in which it should be created and installed (I'm not even sure you can do that with the P&D wizard).

With CR Developer, you can run Crystal from withing the VB IDE. If your reports had been created this way, they would be compiled with the application.

-dave

 

[zivrap]

Hi Vidru,

Thanks for the reply. So, if my reports have been created outside vb(I am calling a .rpt file from vb). How do I compile the reports?

 

[vidru]

You don't have to compile them, just make sure that the path that the .exe is looking for the .rpt files in exists on any workstation you're going to install the application.

-dave