Crystal Reports 8.5 and VB.Net

[pettrer]

Hi,

I'm working on a project in VB.Net 3.5 / Visual Studio 2008 and Sql Server 2005.

A consultant has made about 200 reports in Crystal Reports 8.5 for us some years ago. I can't find any info on how to make these available to the VB.Net project (they were made for VB 6).

What would be the best approach? Is there a simple batch upgrade command or something? We will most likely purchase the newest version of Crystal Reports, but I need to figure out if a conversion is necessary, and if so, if the conversion would be a big project or if it's more or less an automatic thing.

Thanks in advance!

Pettrer

[jggtz]

1.- I have CR 10 and CR 12 (CR 2008) and I can open with them rpt files created with CR 8.5. So You could buy a new CR version and upgrade every rpt file

2.- I'm (almost) sure that You can reference the CR 8.5 libraries in Your VB.net project and work with the CR 8.5 rpt files

[pettrer]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I have now returneed to this task after some moths. We don't have rpt files but DSR and DSX files. From what I've read elsewhere, I won't be able to use those files directly in a VB.Net 3.5 environment.

Therefore, I guess referencing the old libraries would be the best approach, but I have no idea on how to do that in general and I don't know really what to search for on the net.

In my Visual Studio project, I found the folder called References.
I also located the program folder called Seagate Software (Crystal Reports was owned by Seagate software at the time). In the subfolder Crystal Reports, I see several .dll files: c2supprt, crwdmr, and ImpWDF. When I try to import them via Browse... I get an error message saying "Please make sure that the file is accessible, and that it is a valid assembly or COM component." There is another bunch of .dll files in the Report Designer subfolder, but I don't think they are needed.

In my VB6 project (which I am recoding in VB.Net) I have the following code:

        Dim Report As CRHistorikLista
        Dim rstHistorikLista As ADODB.Recordset

        Report = New CRHistorikLista

        rstHistorikLista = LagradProcHamtaRecordset("XHistorikLista", theID)

        If rstHistorikLista.EOF Then
            MsgBox("Nothing to print")
            Exit Sub
        End If


        '''''
        'LOGO Report
        '''''

        Report.Database.SetDataSource(rstHistorikLista)


        frmPreview.CRViewer1.ReportSource = Report
        frmPreview.CRViewer1.EnableExportButton = True
        frmPreview.CRViewer1.DisplayGroupTree = False
        frmPreview.CRViewer1.ViewReport()
        ShowModalUnload(frmPreview)

        rstHistorikLista = Nothing

This particular piece of code uses the file CRHistorikLista.DSX (or .DSR) and sets a list of data (via an external sub) as its datasource. Then a preview window is opened. I know I'll have to rewrite the preview window code.


All hints are welcome!

Thanks again,

Pettrer

1.- I have CR 10 and CR 12 (CR 2008) and I can open with them rpt files created with CR 8.5. So You could buy a new CR version and upgrade every rpt file

2.- I'm (almost) sure that You can reference the CR 8.5 libraries in Your VB.net project and work with the CR 8.5 rpt files