visual studio.net crystal reports

[aspnetuser]

Hello,
I have been using CR and CE version 8.5 and 8.0 for a few years now. CE is really easy to upload and display reports for all my users. I recently purchased Visual Studio.NET. I see their is a crystal reports addin to the software. I am try to develop a .aspx page that will display a crystal report similar to Crystal enterprise for various users.

How do this work? I have VS.net loaded on my client machine. The CE I work with is on a web server that I have full access to. I created a folder on the webservers inetpub and started a new project. Not sure how to do the rest and wanted to know the pros and cons verses buying more enterprise CALS since they are so expensive.

Can users run these aspx crystal report web pages on their browsers if they don't have CR 8.5 installed etc...

Please advise.
Regards.

 

[LV]

Download the samples here, it's pretty straight forward:

http://support.businessobjects.com/communityCS/FilesAndUpdates/csharp_web_samples.exe.asp

 

[aspnetuser]

Thanks. Can you also answer some of the questions I had yourself? I find people's perspective in here to be far better than that of the documentation sometimes.

I am trying some examples now...

 

[LV]

Sure.

 

[aspnetuser]

?

 

[LV]

Sorry, I thought you were talking about you going to have questions after you look at the samples. Samples though are very descriptive. What question in particular?

 

[aspnetuser]

I have VS.net loaded on my client machine. The CE I work with is on a web server that I have full access to. I created a folder on the webservers inetpub and started a new project. Not sure how to do the rest and wanted to know the pros and cons verses buying more enterprise CALS since they are so expensive.

Can users run these aspx crystal report web pages on their browsers if they don't have CR 8.5 installed etc...

 

[LV]

Can users run these aspx crystal report web pages on their browsers if they don't have CR 8.5 installed etc...
Yes they can, since the .Net version doesn't require any client components installed; their viewer is pure DHTML. CrystalViewer is a part of CrystalDecisions.Web namespace.

The CE I work with is on a web server that I have full access to
If you use Crystal .Net, you need to have CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine, CrystalDecisions.Shared and CrystalDecisions.Web dlls in the GAC on the web server. Your project should have references to these dlls. They have all calls you need to display a report in the web browser, the samples should show it pretty clearly.

 

[aspnetuser]

awesome, I have CR 8.5 and the reports you told me to try are version 10? What do I do?

Also, how do i install those dlls on the server, i have visual studio .net on my client machine, should i have installed that on the web server?

 

[aspnetuser]

LV,
I want to be able to deploy my CR 8.5 reports or the CR that I can create in visual studio.net with my webserver. The web server is running CR 8.5 professional and CE 8.0 standard. Is this possible. When I try the examples it errors and says i don't have the crystal reports engine installed? Please guide me to the right path. Do i need to install Visual studio .net on the web server as well to deploy this?

 

[LV]

There is a white paper, describing how to deploy Crystal .Net components to the web server.

http://support.businessobjects.com/library/kbase/articles/c2013175.asp

http://support.businessobjects.com/communityCS/TechnicalPapers/crnet_deployment.pdf

I'm using Crystal version 9 components and viewer.

If during the installation on our local box you selected the "Crystal Reports" option, the components needed should be installed on your local, normaly in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Crystal Decisions\1.1\ directory.

 

[aspnetuser]

what if i do not have crystal reports at all?
crystal reports comes with visual studio.net, can i just use that to deploy them over the .aspx web pages or do i also need to purchase cr 9.0 standalone?

thats where i am confused. Seems to me it comes with VS.net because i am able to create reports within it. Please advise.

 

[LV]

You can yse all Crystal .Net components, that come by default with Visual Studio. They are in <SystemDrive>:\Program Files\Common Files\Crystal Decisions\1.1\ directory. If you purchase 9.0, it will come with its own components and create the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Crystal Decisions\2.0\ directory. You can use either version of the dlls. I like 9.0 DHTML viewer, 'cause it already has some exporting functionality built in, no need to write code to export reports to PDF for printing - since there is no client printing functionality in Crystal .Net viwers.

 

[aspnetuser]

I read through the documents, i have the cr bundle version for VS 2002 .net. It does not really explain how to load the files on the web server like I have to. Can you help me?

 

[aspnetuser]

I see those files, can i copy them to the web server in the exact location?

 

[LV]

This is related to CR for VS .Net directly:

http://support.businessobjects.com/communityCS/TechnicalPapers/crnet_serverfile_deployment.pdf

It has a "Deplying to a Web Server" section. We just foolwed a similar doc for 9.0 version to deploy out app, and everything worked just fine.

 

[aspnetuser]

man...when i get to step 7 on page 6 i don't have the Config folder in which i have to copy crystalserverfile.config

now what?

 

[LV]

As the doc says, this file is required for Server File Report Web Services. You don't need that.

 

[aspnetuser]

ok i went through the whole thing and tried to run a test report and i get the follow error: any suggestions?
Server Error in '/' Application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Configuration Error
Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: It is an error to use a section registered as allowDefinition='MachineToApplication' beyond application level. This error can be caused by a virtual directory not being configured as an application in IIS.

Source Error:


Line 31: "Passport" and "None"
Line 32: -->
Line 33: <authentication mode="Windows"/>
Line 34:
Line 35: <!-- APPLICATION-LEVEL TRACE LOGGING


Source File: c:\inetpub\

http://wwwroot\webapplication1\web.config

Line: 33


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:1.1.4322.573; ASP.NET Version:1.1.4322.573

 

[LV]

This error can be caused by a virtual directory not being configured as an application in IIS
Is your site(directory) configured as a virtual app?