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Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and Runtimes Now Available

July 29, 2010 | 204 Views |
 blair wheadon
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November 5: The production launch is imminent.  See Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010 Launch Imminent for more details. 

In my Update on the CR for VS 2010 Release, I said we would have a beta 2 release of CR for VS 2010 that included runtimes in early August. 

We’ve delivered a few days earlier than expected, and they’re available now!

You will need to manually uninstall your existing CR for VS 2010 beta before installing.

Here’s the downloads:

SAP Crystal Reports, version for Visual Studio 2010

SAP Crystal Reports runtime engine for .NET Framework 4 (32-bit)

SAP Crystal Reports runtime engine for .NET Framework 4 (64-bit)

We know the size of the runtimes is still too big.  That is the #1 improvement planned for the production release in Q4 this year.

Now that we have beta-level runtimes, the deployment whitepaper that describes how to use the CR 2008 runtimes is no longer necessary.  We recommend using the runtimes above for your solutions.

Please continue to use the Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010 Beta – read before posting for feedback and technical support questions.

Cheers, Blair

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48 Comments

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  1. Former Member
    Hi Blair,

    If we are using a VS2008/.NET3.5 environment, do we have to update our projects to VS2010 and .NET4.0 to use these new x64 runtimes?

    (0) 
  2. Former Member
    This one’s a news that I was very eagerly expecting. Thanks so much for a earlier release than the promised date of Aug’10 first week.

    I appreciate it.

    (0) 
  3. Former Member
    Hi Blair

    Is it necessary to install both 32 bit and 64 bit runtimes on a 64 bit dev machine if you plan to deploy for both platforms?

    Regards
    John

    (0) 
    1. Former Member
      Hi John,

      It’s not required to install both runtimes on a single machine. If I am wrong, you won’t be able to install both at all.

      We need to make sure that the respective Bit Runtime is installed on the target machine, where our apps are going to be.

      Hope that helps.

      (0) 
  5. Former Member
    Hi Blair

    I tried installing the Crystal for VS 2010 first, before the CRforNET40_x64, and it said it’s not a valid install for this platform. Seems to be complaining about my 64bit Win7 machine. Is this correct behavior or have I done something wrong? I have completely uninstalled the Beta1 version.

    Regards
    John

    (0) 
    1. Former Member
      Your issue sounds similar to an existing forum thread.  Please review the following thread and see if this helps.
      CR2010 Beta 2: Uninstall then reinstall

      Also, if you are running the setup from a network/remote server, try copying the package to your local machine and running setup.

      If this does not help, please start a new forum thread with specifics to your issue.

      (0) 
  8. Former Member
    Installation CRforNET40_x64 on Windows WEB Server 2008R2 64bit stops with error message:
    “Cannot install product to c:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\. This product is not compatible with the existing installation.”
    After this message installation is aborted. On machine was uninstalled CRRuntime_12_2_mlb. On system is installed .NET Framework 4.
    Can you help me this problem?
    Roman
    (0) 
    1. Former Member
      Your issue sounds similar to an existing forum thread.  Please review the following thread and see if this helps.
      CR2010 Beta 2: Uninstall then reinstall

      Also, if you are running the setup from a network/remote server, try copying the package to your local machine and running setup.

      If this does not help, please start a new forum thread with specifics to your issue.

      (0) 
  9. Former Member
    X86 Runtimes won’t install on any of the Windows XP Machines in our office. It gets to the Install Deployment portion and then starts throwing a Visual C++ Runtime Library Error saying “This application has requested the runtime to terminate it in an unusual way” Visual C++ 2005 and 2008 redistributable packs are installed as well as .net 4.0
    (0) 
    1. Blair Wheadon Post author
      Thanks for your feedback on the runtime install issues.  I’m following up on all the items mentioned below with the dev teams internally.  In the meantime, can you please post these issues to the support forum (URL is above). 

      Thanks, Blair

      (0) 
      1. Former Member
        Hello.

        Lately I had to deploy a simple application basing on Crystal Reports in my company. The code was written under VS 2010 for .NET framework 4.0. The deployment had to be on a 32-bit PC with Win XP. We’d decided to run the application on Crystal for VS 2010, so I’ve downloaded the runtime betas (Beta 2) to install it on the destination PC.

        At first it was hard to install it, I’ve tried to run it in many different configurations (looking for help on forums like this one 🙂 ) and it constantly failed.

        Finally, it occured that, when I’ve logged in as an Administrator of the local computer, right-clicked on the installation package and selected “Run As…” and runned it as an local PC Administrator – it WORKED. The installation was long but application runs there for about a month now and for now there weren’t bigger problems.

        I hope it will help.

        (0) 
  11. Former Member
    Hello Blair,

    Today, I successfully installed Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 on a machine having Windows Vista Business Edition, Service Pack 2, 32-bit Operating System, and Visual Studio 2010 Professional Edition.

    In VS 2010 Help About dialog Installed products list, the entry is shown as SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010.

    One thing I observed though. At the start of this weblog, there is a download link; SAP Crystal Reports, version for Visual Studio 2010. Clicking this link, I got two download links on next page:
    Start your free download – United States
    Start your free download – Rest of world.

    Below this link, information is not updated as yet. The following is written:

    (Beta 1 is available now. Beta 2 PLANNED for early August 2010. Production release planned for November 2010.)

    (0) 
  12. Former Member
    Hi Blair,

    Thanks for writing this blog as it greatly assists us with setting up our roadmaps for Crystal product support (particularly x64!).

    Cheers,
    Sam

    (0) 
  14. Former Member
    Hi Blair,

    I am trying to deploy a ASP.NET web application on IIS. My application has a Crystal Report(CR) which uses CR for Visual Studio (VS) 2010. It works fine on development server (press F5 in VS to run debug mode on development server). However, when I deploy it in IIS 7.5. It doesn’t work.
    I has download CR for VS 2010 runtime at your blog post and installed it already but no use. It doesn’t appear any error message. It just print up “Error, Load report failed.”. How can I deploy it? or at least how can I know what the error is for me to troubleshoot?
    I’m running IIS 7.5 with .NET Framework 4.0.30319. I have installed “SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 – Redist (32 bit)”. That text name appear in my “Programs and Features list”.

    (0) 
  16. Former Member
    It doesn’t really matter.
    As far as I saw those runtimes are really faster than any previous version (maybe because now they seem to be native and don’t rely on COM).
    I really prefer speed over size (read: don’t use runtime packers).

    If size reduction is achieved by optimizing code then it’s welcome. Otherwise just let them as they are and provide a sort of “install from web” for the necessary components (actually you install everything but commonly deploy scenarioes don’t always need everything. Just let the user choose what part he needs to install and the setup downloads it from the web)

    (0) 
    1. Former Member
      Thanks for your comment.  It’s surprising to hear that runtime size is not a big issue for you.  We have heard from many customers that keeping the runtime packages as small as possible is important so we try to keep it that way from version to version.  For the CRforVS2010 release, the runtime packages become quite large (as you can see from the Beta2 downloads) so for the final release the packages will be much smaller (currently at ~72MB for 32bit).

      As for the other comment, CR for VS does provide ClickOnce deployment where the runtime can be hosted from the web.  However, the CR runtime is still using COM and not 100% native .NET, so it will not be possible to only install what is required.  The full package must be downloaded and installed on the client machine.  Another good reason to keep the package size as small as possible.

      (0) 
      1. Former Member
        I definitely agree with you (and others)
        Keeping runtime size small is important but ONLY IF this doesn’t sacrifice performance.
        In the terabyte and broadband world (like the one in which we live today) we don’t really care about some hundreds of MB more.. You have to deploy the application within your company? use network to install. You have to deploy it outside your company and your worldwide customers may not have a broadband connection? Burn a CD and take it to a CD replicating factory they will print thousand of disks for you. It’s simply business.

        Your application doesn’t fit onto a CD for the extra 200 mb needed by CR? Just use a DVD. It’s the same. Today if you want to buy a CD reader you can’t even buy it. You will only find DVD readers so you can be sure your customer will have the way to read it.

        One single point that will make you think:
        We are using CR for BUSINESS not for printing “hello world”. Our average customer wants the application (and reporting) as quick as possible. He doesn’t even care for the installation size (and time) because it’s a one-time only operation while the application must format hundreds of thousands reports a year (about one every two minutes).
        Runtime size will be an issue if you use crystal report to deploy “simple applications” with limited reporting needs. If you rely on Crystal Reports to WORK SERIOUSLY and your application has hundreds of reports you’ll ever not care about runtimes’ size.

        That said..
        It’s nice to see that CR is finally becoming FAST (we used it since the first versions) and we just compared the performance with the old runtimes (with the same data) now it’s about 10x faster.
        You did a great work this time.

        (0) 
  17. Mike Haro
    I’m trying to figure out the best course of actions for us in upgrading.

    For some history, we are currently on Visual Studio 2008 and using CR Developer XI R1.  We have our reports (a lot of them) built within the CR Dev XI and saved as .RPT files.  The way we open the reports for our users is to create a ReportDocument object.  Then use it to Load the .RPT file.  We use the SetDataSource method to set our DataTable to the report.  We might have to modify the Groupings being displayed in the report and other report items based on the users desired options before displaying it.  Then on our form that has the CrystalReportViewer on it, we set that to the ReportDocument and then display the form.

    The issue we have had with this is that this is not working for some of our clients that are running on Windows 7 32bit (W7 64bit works fine).

    We are in the process of moving up to Visual Studio 2010.  But we are trying to figure out what to do with Crystal Reports.

    Would you think it would be better to stay with the standalone Crystal Reports 2008 or would we be able to do the same functionality using the Crystal Reports 2008 for Visual Studio 2010?

    The deployment issue is one reason we never moved up from R1 of CR XI.  We support a lot of different companies running our application that they do not allow internet access to their users, so we have our own means of sending program file updates to them.  Right now the only way they had CR XI installed was to have to do a full installation of our application which included the CR MSM.  So just receiving updates of our program files, we never had a way to update every user with a newer CR.

    So besides what upgrade we should be doing, I need to also know how we can update all our application users with the latest version also.

    I appreciate any information I can get on this (or a redirection to another Blog if needed to get additional help)

    Thank you,
    Mike…

    (0) 
  18. Mike Haro
    Since I’ve never received any response to my last message, can someone please help me with this one.

    I installed the CR for VS2010 Beta 2.  But I’m not seeing the controls in my VS2010 Toolbox.  I’m using it on a VB.Net project.  I can see the controls if I select the Show All in the toolbox but they are grayed out.  Are the controls only usable in certain languages?  And if so, which ones?

    Thank you,

    (0) 
      1. Mike Haro
        Thank you, that worked.  The default for new projects is “.NET Framework 4 Client Profile” which the CR for VS2010 must not work for.  Changing it to 4 or 3.5 (without the Client Profile) works.

        I’m still just getting my feet wet in VS2010.

        (0) 
      2. Former Member
        I have also found that you can link to previous versions of the runtime.  For example i have clients using the runtime from VS2005, and as that was only 16MB and easy to install I will (until the non-beta VS2010 version is released) probably stick with using that.

        The code needs to be put in the app.config file and goes like this.

        ‘Starts******************************************

           
             
               
               
             
             
               
               
             
             
               
               
             
             
               
               
             
             
               
               
             
             
               
               
             
           
         

        ‘Ends*******************************************

        You may also need to include the other files produced in the output folder – config files etc as (and I dont know why) it doesnt work properly otherwise.

        Hope this helps – I found it really useful.

        Dave

        (0) 
  20. Former Member
    Have you now got any firmer dates other than Q4 2010 for the production release of Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010.

    I apologise if this information is on the web site somewhere – but I’ve been looking around for a while now and haven’t found it.

    I’m sure that like a number of people I am trying to work out the most appropriate time to move across to Visual Studio 2010 and without a fully supported version of Crystal Reports I am reluctant to do so.

    I’m just about to start a new project which will take about a month to complete. Is now the right time to develop this using Visual Studio 2010 – by the time I’m ready to deply this to my users will the production release be ready?

    Thanks.

    Anita

    (0) 
  21. Former Member
    hi, I’ ve donwloaded two version of Runtime Engine (32 and 64 bit) but i’ve problem during installation in Windows 7 64 bit

    with 32 an 64 bit version too, the error message tell me that “the version in use is only for x86 platform”.

    Any idea for proceed?

    (0) 
  22. Former Member
    Can you please help me understand:
    1. Can CR beta2 run with VS 2010 on a 64bit windows 7 OS, with a .net 2.0 website? The VS keeps crashing when I tried it.
    2. What are exactly are the runtimes for .net 4 used for? I guess the base install (SAP Crystal Reports, version for Visual Studio 2010) installs the runtimes also, right? I saw those in GAC for x86. What version of .net are they for?
    3. How does one install the runtimes on the production for a x86 version.

    Thank you

    (0) 
  23. Former Member
    Using the Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 10 when developing an app is easy. On the development machine all is well.  On the deployment machine( XP, no visual studio etc) I get exceptions about missing Crystal Report  DLL’s. Why is the deployment so difficult? I downloaded and ran the installer for CRforNET40_x86 on the . This was reported to be the runtime for x86 machines.  The result was that a bunch of cab files we added to the machine, but the dll’s were not extracted and not accessible on the path.  Why doesn’t the runtime installer  install the DLL’s? I assume I am missing something, It would be nice for SAP to write up a simple deployment guide for the newest release of the Visual Studio 10 package.
    (0) 
    1. Blair Wheadon Post author
      Hi – the runtime size concern that caused the date shift was earlier in the project – before beta 2 was released.  This was addressed before the runtime engines in beta 2 were released.  So there is no material size reduction between beta 2 and the production release.  The runtime sizes of the current release are roughly the same as the CR 2008 runtimes, which was our goal.  Thanks, Blair.
      (0) 
  25. Former Member
    Hi,

    It is great that the production release of CR for Visual Studio 2010 is now available. I have installed this and can create/modify reports within the Visual Studio 2010 IDE.

    However, I was wondering whether there is a definitive guide of how to incorporate CR in Visual Studio 2010 “Click Once” deployments to ensure that the reports within the project run correctly. Is there also a guide for incorporating CR within VS 2010 “full Setup” projects as well? The downloads do not appear to contain any documentation.

    I managed incorporate reports within VS 2005/2008 projects but was never sure whether I was doing it “correctly” and therefore definitive guides would be really useful.

    I would be grateful if you could point me in the right direction if they already exists.

    Thanks

    Anita

    (0) 
    1. Former Member
      Hi Anita!  The CR Developer Guide is installed with the local Microsoft Help system.  As long as you have 1 Visual Studio documentation topic installed, when you install CR for VS2010, its documentation will also be installed and integrated with the Help system. 

      The CR Developer Guide has a whole section on deployment options.  I recommend you start there. 

      If you need any further technical help, please use the forums:
      SAP Crystal Reports, version for Visual Studio

      Thanks!

      (0) 

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