My app can not export PDF anymore after Windows 11 update (24H2 - 26.100.3037)

[TerMyk]

It is a old VB6 app, but have been running for years (from 2003)  and the customer loves it. It even run perfect until a few days ago, when there was Windows 11 update.

It is confermed by the user that 23H2 - No problem. 24H2 - can not export.

It is possible to see the report, but it is not possible to export to PDF.

I get a dialog box withe heading: "Crystal REpoer Viewer", The message is: "Failed to export the report"

My CRViewer.dll has version 11.0.0.1282

I someone else experience this problem?
What can I do to fix it (other than rollback the windows update)?

[DonWilliams]

No, VB 6 I dont' recall supported .NET, time to upgrade to VS 2010->2022. If it did then CR for VS won't install to it because SAP does not support VB 6 any more. The Installer looks for VS 2010->2022.

[DonWilliams · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately CR 11 is VERY old and you should have updated to CR 11.5, but it too is no longer available.

Of course none of what you are using is supported by Windows either.

All I can suggest is upgrading to Visual Studio 2010->2022 and use the CR .NET components:

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

It's likely either permission or a dependency missing. You'll have to do more debugging...

Do all exports fail or some?

[TerMyk · Accepted solution]

Excel, CSV and Text is working. I have not test more.

[TerMyk · Accepted solution]

Quick test: Excel, CSV and Text is working. I tested the .NET components may years ago. The customer complains. It was slow, so I had to go back to the CR version.

[TerMyk · Accepted solution]

Is there a way I can turn on some logging and find out why the CR will not export the PDF anymore?

[DonWilliams · Accepted solution]

CRR has no logging, you would have to build it into your app. You could try Procmon, it may help and possibly dependency walker might give you a clue also. It could be just reinstalling Adobe Reader may help also... CR uses it to format PDF...

[TerMyk · Accepted solution]

Installeing Adobe did not work. Procmon was intresting. It will take some time to look into it. I see crviewer.dll, but is there another file look into?

[ido_millet · Accepted solution]

Don's suggestion to switch to 11.5 (at a minimum) may well solve the issue for you. I have an 11.5 version working at many customer sites, and I haven't encountered this issue.

[TerMyk · Accepted solution]

How to get CR 11.5 or better? I realy want to try it. I asked in the SAP chat about it, but they did not know. And I don't find anythin in the SAP Crystal Report 2016 documentation that can help me.

[TerMyk · Accepted solution]

I found this catalog in SAP CR 2026. SAP BusinessObjects\Crystal Reports\crystalreportviewers\ActiveXControls

[TerMyk · Accepted solution]

I found this catalog in SAP CR 2026. "SAP BusinessObjects\Crystal Reports\crystalreportviewers\ActiveXControls". Is this what I need?

[DonWilliams · Accepted solution]

No, that is old technolgy... have you tried upgrading to .NET and CR for VS SP37 and fix the delay issues by opening a dummy rreport?

[TerMyk · Accepted solution]

I have not tried ".NET and CR for VS SP37" yet. I think it is maybe the most realistic solution. In SAP Crystal Report 2016 there is a ActiveXControls catalogue with CRViewer.dll etc. I wonder if there some examples and how to use this one in a VB6 program AND are I allowed to do so by the license?

[OldSchoolCrystal · Accepted solution]

Just to answer your question about which DLLs to look for in Procmon. They are called crxf_pdf.dll and crxf_pdf_res_en.dll (last one will depend on language I presume).

[DonWilliams]

As of CR 9 SAP no longer ships nor supports the legacy COM SDK's, that includes crviewer.dll and the RDC craxdrt.dll and craxddrt.dll which are all COM based. CRR does still use COM dll's but those are all used internally and in .NET.

Microsoft no longer supports VB 6 or any of it's dependencies. So rather than trying to HACK your way through your issues it's time to bite the bullet and upgrade to VS 2022 and CR .NET.

The same for CR 11.5, yes it may fix your issues temporarily but in the short term Microsoft updates may break 11.5, the technology is the same as 11.0, it just supported later versions of the OS. Windows 11 is not supported in either though because CR 11.0/11.5 had no concept of Windows 11.

To answer your latest question, again NO, as of CR 9 Crystal Reports no longer installed the .NET SDK nor the COM components you are asking about. And NO you are not licensed to use the Legacy SDK's any more, .NET is the only one along with Java and RESTFul SDK's.

So to answer your questions, stop trying to hack your way around upgrading, you can tell your users to be Windows Compliant you and they need to upgrade. The download page has a few .NET test app's I wrote when I work for SAP, retired now, which you can use to get your started upgrading.

Good luck

Don

[DonWilliams]

Sorry it's been so long since I've used VS 6 and CR XI I don't recall what the export dll is.

Current versions export dll's are crxf_*.dll, it could be the same for XI, I don't recall now what it used...

In CR Designer open the report and if you click on Help.. About... More Info it lists the dll's used, export the report and then look for something with PDF in the name. Then use Procmon or Dependency Walker on the dll, it may suggest what's missing.Try simplifying the report, no database connection and just a "Hello World" in a text box and see if that works, then take the report having problems and start removing parts and see if it works at any point.

You really need to update your app, there are ways to improve performance in .NET SDK, load a dummy report on when your app opens, that preloads all of the CR runtime so when you open a real reports it should right away.

You never mentioned at what point the customer complained about the speed in your new app?

Good luck