Encapsulation of Crystal Reports 8.5 library in Windows service

[steven_mv_2010_87]

Good morning, we are currently still looking for a reporter to migrate to Crystal 8.5, we are waiting for authorization to migrate to a more current version of Crystal, but at the moment we are having a problem and that is because we have an application that uses this version of the reporter that runs at x64 bits, we had to encapsulate the Crystal Reports 8.5 library in a Windows service, without the viewer, that is, we only generate the pdf through the service and the Crystal library and then with a pdf viewer we show it, to avoid using the viewer, now the doubt that arises due to an inconvenience that we are presenting is that sometimes when doing the . cr.OpenReport(strRpt, CRAXDRT.CROpenReportMethod.crOpenReportByTempCopy) the service falls, I think but I'm not sure and I would like to ask you if this encapsulation needs to take something into account since I suspect that when making that .openReport it seems that the dll tries to use the gui

[DonWilliams · Accepted solution]

Time to upgrade to .NET.

The legacy RDC engine is COM based and likely problem is the dependencies are missing.

That component hasn't shipped since CR 10 days. The reason is Microsoft decided .NET Framework was going to replace COM so SAP decided to drop the RDC for CR .NET dependencies, Of course too many people complained so MS changed their mind and supported both again. But it was to late, CR dropped the craxdrt.dll.

The other issue is MS stopped supporting programs from installing into the c:\windows\system32 folder where CR installed into c:\windows\system32\crystal folder. So it's likely missing as well.

The bottom line is using that legacy COM dll is no longer supported by CR and Windows.

You could rewrite your dll as a service using the CR .NET references and continue opening/exporting to PDF.

CR is also recommending to move to 64 bit also, 32 bit references will no longer be created end of 2025.

The reason your app is attempting to open the report using the GUI s because it can't find the RDC dll.

To upgrade go here for references:

https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_CRYSTAL_REPORTS,_DEVELOPER_VERSION_FOR_MICROSOFT_VISUAL_STUDIO?locale=...

And here to download and other material including .NET samples:

https://help.sap.com/docs/SUPPORT_CONTENT/crystalreports/3354091173.html

Related Documents

Crystal Reports for Visual Studio Licensing

Getting started and moving ahead with Crystal Reports .NET applications

See this Blog for instructions upgrading your existing project to the latest SP

See this blog on how to use CR 2020 Export to XLXS page formats:

How to use the new CR 2020 export to Microsoft Excel(XLXS) in Visual Studio .NET code (new)

how-to-parameters-in-crystal-reports-for-visual-studio-net

Printing Crystal Reports in .NET

SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio Installation Guide ( SP 21 and above)

Rather than spend time and resources on trying to make the legacy app to work I highly recommend you get a developer to rewrite your Windows Service using the current .NET SDK. That legacy COM dll requires Windows dependencies that Microsoft no longer installs/deploys.

[steven_mv_2010_87 · Accepted solution]

Hello, Don Williams, thank you very much for the information.