Modifying crystal reports parameter prompts and default value descriptions using Inproc RAS.

The RAS SDK is very powerful and can be used to do almost anything you can do in the Crystal Reports designer.

Sometimes the naming of methods can be confusing, but overall it is not overly difficult to find what you are looking for (assuming it exists).

I had a customer looking to modify their report parameters prompt text as well as the descriptions of default values and was running into issues.

I will post the code I used, but there are 2 things that you need to know.

1)  The prompt text of a parameter is modified using the .Description off of the ParameterField object.  This is confusing since you use a .Description method off of the ParameterFieldDiscreteValue to change the default value description.  I wish it was .PromptText instead…oh well.

2) You can NOT modify dynamic parameter information..period.  Even trying to change the prompting text will result in an error stating that dynamic parameters can not be modified.

Here is the code I used to update the parameters prompt text and the descriptions of a couple default values of the parameter.

VB.NET sample code
Imports CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine Imports CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ClientDoc Imports CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.Controllers Imports CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.DataDefModel   Partial Class _Default     Inherits System.Web.UI.Page      Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load         ‘Load the Crystal Report         Dim crRpt As New CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.ReportDocument         crRpt.Load(“C:\myreport.rpt”)          ‘Cast it as a ReportClientDocument so we can use the RAS object model         Dim rcd As ISCDReportClientDocument         rcd = crRpt.ReportClientDocument          Dim boParameterFieldController As CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.Controllers.ParameterFieldController = rcd.DataDefController.ParameterFieldController          Dim param As CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.DataDefModel.ParameterField         Dim paramNew As CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.DataDefModel.ParameterField         Dim params As Fields = rcd.DataDefController.DataDefinition.ParameterFields          ‘Loop through each parameter to find the one we want         For Each param In params              If param.Name = “MyParam” Then                  ‘You must clone the parameter, do not set it directly (ie paramNew = param)                 paramNew = param.Clone(True)                  ‘Clear out the current default values                 paramNew.DefaultValues.RemoveAll()                  ‘Set the prompting text of the new parameter object                 paramNew.Description = “My new prompting text”                  ‘Copy over the existing values and add them to the new object                 Dim paramValue As ParameterFieldDiscreteValue                 paramValue = CType(param.DefaultValues.Item(0), ParameterFieldDiscreteValue)                 paramValue.Description = “My New Description One”                 paramNew.DefaultValues.Add(paramValue)                 paramValue = CType(param.DefaultValues.Item(1), ParameterFieldDiscreteValue)                 paramValue.Description = “My New Description Two”                 paramNew.DefaultValues.Add(paramValue)                  ‘Save the modification on the report                  boParameterFieldController.Modify(param, paramNew)              End If         Next          ‘save the changes to the report itself         rcd.Save()          CrystalReportViewer1.ReportSource = crRpt     End Sub End Class

I hope this helps!

Good luck with your project!

Jason