Short history and resources for Crystal Reports Software Developer Kits (SDK)

Recently, I came across a forum post where the user was wondering why his VB 6 application using Crystal Reports 6 VBX, did not work on Widows 7.
This made me think that perhaps a blog reviewing how to find which versions of Crystal Reports are supported would be useful. As well, I’d like to touch on why a query such as the one posted in the forums regarding CR 7 on Win 7 is somewhat irrelevant.

Currently supported versions of Crystal Reports are documented at the Product End of Life (EOL) Dates page.

The above link contains information for Crystal Reports, Business Objects Enterprise, and other products. Note that at the time this blog is being written (April, 2010), only critical fixes are being accepted for a fix consideration.

Frequently asked questions regarding technical support life cycle can be located at the Technical Support Lifecycle.

If the version you are using is not noted in the above link, it is not supported. E.g.; you can not obtain phone support. However you can create forum posts and see if you can get help from the community. Please realize that the older the version of Crystal Reports, the harder it will be to obtain any help at all. The table below summarizes SDKs supported by each version of Crystal Reports, from version 2 to version 12.

* Details regarding which version of Crystal Reports supports which version of Visual Studio .NET can be found in the wiki Which Crystal Reports assembly versions are supported in which versions of Visual Studio .NET

The table above table is only meant as a general guide. The important thing to realize is that  asking questions about VBX is, in most cases, probably a low ROI question. Not too many people will remember a technology that has not seen the light of day since 1997. Similarly asking if CR 7 works on WIN 7 is a low ROI. Most likely not. My recommendation would be to try it. You will probably be the first to do so. If you have success, or not, share your findings with the community in the SAP Crystal Reports – Legacy SDKs forum. And always remember to search for answers:

Notes / Kbase database

Articles

Forums

Wikis

Blogs

Samples:
Crystal Reports for .NET SDK Sample applications
RAS SDK for .NET Sample applications
Java BO SDK Sample applications
RDC Sample applications

Also always ensure you have the latest updates for your version of Crystal Reports – check the downloads section.

For all Crystal Reports 2008 Service Packs and Fix Packs see the “Crystal Reports 2008 – Version and Download information for SPs and FPs” wiki.

Finally, if you do need phone support – for a supported version of Crystal Reports, use the following link to obtain a phone case:

http://store.businessobjects.com/store/bobjamer/DisplayProductByTypePage&parentCategoryID=&categoryID=11522300