Best practices for Crystal 11, VS2005, ADO.NET, ASP.NET

[Former Member]

Hi all,

I am new here. I am looking for a recommendation on best practices for integrating Crystal XI R2 with VS2005, ADO.NET and ASP.NET.

I played around a little using IDataReader as the data source, but found that Crystal would not recognize more than about 30 fields in the DataReader. This was confirmed by support.

1) Is this still a problem.

2) If yes, what is the best solution for connecting to ADO?

In Crystal 10 and VB6, I used to use .ttx files for development and pass an ADO recordset at runtime. This worked great for both reports and subreports.

3) Is there a comparable method to using .ttx files in Crystal XI R2 that is also forward compatible if I move to Crystal 2008. It looks like .ttx files are not compatible in 2008.

Any help on best practices using XI R2 that will still be compatible with 2008 moving forward would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

HI Kevin,

The VS comes with a CR which is a very limited version and CR product is a complete product and most of the times of advanced version which gets integrated with VS so we suggest you to install VS first and then the CR product so that you can access teh upgraded dlls in your application.

However do remember that VS2005 is tested with CRXIR2 and above products with only in developer edition.

[Samples|http://devlibrary.businessobjects.com/BusinessObjectsXIR2SP2/en/devsuite.htm] would help you understand the flow and usability better.

Regarding the questions we need to know few things:

Are you getting any errors? Do the report work fine from designer? What products are you using and what is the patch level? Are you using Com or RDC components? Does the report display properly while using ttx files?

Thanks,

AG.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I purchased the upgrade to the CR that comes with VS. The version is 11.5.8.1030 (XI R2).

I previously used older versions of CR with VB6 by designing with ttx files and passing an ADO recordset to the report.

It seems that ttx files work with XI R2, but become obsolete after CR 2008.

I am trying to determine the best method for developing now and in the future. IDataReader is a pain and has to be compiled into a class. Also, after about 30 fields in the DataReader the fields on the report are blank. I opened a service request (using the free request that came with my purchase) and was told that this is a bug. I don't have the tracking number anymore to reference the support request.

Typed DataSets are also a pain, but it looks like this is the best way to move forward.

Bottom line is, what is your opinion on the best method of passing data to a report using XI R2 now and upgrading to 2008 in the future. I use MS SQL Server and create applications in VS 2005 in C# and ASP.NET. I use the CR report designer not the built in version that came with VS. The data comes from several tables that are either joined in SQL with a join statement.

Thanks.

Kevin

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Kevin, I would have used the connection info to pass the connection information and then data adapter to pass query and take a data set to pass data to report. If the disconnected architecture works for me then xml/xsd would be a better option.

Since you have joins and several tables then I would leave maximum thing with crystal as joins are difficult to maintain and track and can be easily updated or mapped from the designer, as we are looking forward to upgrade too. If the table relationship is simple and can be defined and verified(if required) from xsd or xml then that will be my second option.

Did I answer you properly?

[guglerit]

hi all!
do you have a solution for ado integration in CR10?