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"Invalid export DLL or export format" with Crystal Reports 2008

former_member208657
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I've included this sticky because we are seeing many posts in this forum regarding the error Invalid export DLL or export format when exporting to Excel and RTF in .NET applications using the Crystal Reports 2008 .NET SDK.

Issue

- Exporting a Crystal Report to Excel or RTF format

- .NET application using the Crystal Reports 2008 runtime (version 12.0)

- error Invalid export DLL or export format

We've been doing some testing in-house and haven't reproduced this behavior. In order to figure this issue out we will need your help. If you are getting this error please reply to this post with the following information:

- Server Operating System

- Version of the .NET Framework

- How did you deploy?

- If you deployed with CRRuntime_12_0_mlb.msi - what was the date of the file and its size?

- What is the file version of crpe32.dll on your server? You'll find this in the C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 directory

- How many libpng10.dll files are on your system? List all instances.

- Any additional comments

What We Know

- The error invalid export DLL or export format may occur when exporting to Excel and RTF formats in .NET applications utilizing the Crystal Reports 2008 runtime (v 12.0)

- Other export formats like Adobe PDF, Crystal Reports, CSV all export with no error

- Some customers have resolved this by adding C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 to their environment path variables. Note the system must be restarted after editing the path variable.

- This may have something to do with the file libpng10.dll. Both crxf_xls.dll and crxf_rtf.dll are dependent on it.

- libpng10.dll has changed versions from SP0 to SP1. In SP0 it was 1.0.30.0 and in SP1 it is 1.0.30.1

libpng10.dll dependencies

The dependencies have also been updated for libpng10.dll in service pack 1. This may have something to do with the export issue. If you've deployed your application with the latest merge modules or setup package for service pack 1 you'll want to make sure you have version 1.0.30.1 of libpng10.dll.

Version 1.0.30.0

- zlib.dll

- msvcr71.dll

- kernel32.dll

Version 1.0.30.1

- boezlib.dll

- msvcr80.dll

- kernel32.dll

Thanks in advance for your co-operation. We hope to figure out what is causing this issue soon.

Edited by: David Hilton on Jan 14, 2009 10:07 AM

Accepted Solutions (1)

Accepted Solutions (1)

Former Member
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We are experiencing the same issue as reported in this thread. I can give you the responses to your questions you have requested:

Server Operating System - MS Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition SP2

Version of the .NET Framework - MS .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

How did you deploy? - Installed CR 2008 SP1 runtime with msi package

If you deployed with CRRuntime_12_0_mlb.msi - what was the date of the file and its size? CRRuntime_12_1_mlb.msi dated Sept. 16, 2008 12:55:00 PM, size: 56,717,824 bytes

What is the file version of crpe32.dll on your server? You'll find this in the C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 directory - File was created 9/13/08 11:21AM, 9451KB File Version: 12.1.0.882

How many libpng10.dll files are on your system? List all instances. - 1 instance is on the system located in C;\Program Files\Business Objects\Business Objects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 directory. It is dated 9/13/08 8:52:26AM 132KB version 1.0.30.1

Any additional comments - We have tried to export to PDF and this works successfully. However, we can not export to xls or rft formats.

CRXF_XLS.dll is 905KB 9/13/08 9:38AM Version 12.1.0.882

CRXF_RTF.dll is 509KB 9/13/08 9:35AM Version 12.1.0.882

We also have the CR XIR2 server runtime installed side by side on the server as we migrate from CR 2008 to CR XIR2 SP4 ( where this function does work currently).

Please let me know if you need anything additional.

Answers (19)

Answers (19)

Former Member
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We are requiring our customers to get their own licence to Crystal Reports 2008. They then down load the merged modules from https://websmp130.sap-ag.de/sap(bD1lbiZjPTAwMQ==)/bc/bsp/spn/bobj_download/main.htm and run CRRuntime_12_2_mlb.mis.

This version is still in development and has not been released yet but to my knowledge this is how the merged modules will get installed. We were required to move from Crystal Report ActiveX Designer Run Time to the .Net version since it is no longer supported by SAP.

former_member183750
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OK. Understood.

Now, this issue is still under investigation so your work-around; "copy the libpng10.dll to the directory where my application resides. ", will have to do for now. It may be that you could eventually create your own setup or MSI and direct it to install the libpng10.dll into the app directory. We are also working on this issue and presumably there will be a resolution eventually. We will keep this thread updated with any progress, escalation tracks, etc.

Ludek

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Do you know if this dll is needs a licence to redistribute, the best work-around is to include it with our software install. When I Google libpng10.dll It looks like it is free software distributed by cygwin, I am not sure if this is the case or not.

former_member183750
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The files are free to distribute with WIN apps. Server apps are also free - if distributed internally. For external distribution of server apps you may need extra licensing. See the following for more info:

/people/blair.wheadon/blog/2009/02/05/announcing-crystal-reports-developer-advantage-runtime-license

https://ecohub.sdn.sap.com/irj/ecohub/solutions/crystalreportsdevadvantage#pricing

You may also want to discuss with sales; 866-681-3435

Ludek

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/SAPCRNetSup

former_member183750
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This issue is resolved in [Fix Pack 2.7|https://smpdl.sap-ag.de/~sapidp/012002523100005755702010E/cr2008fp27.exe].

A kbase has also been created:

1467600 - Error: "Invalid export DLL or export format" when exporting to XLS format and connecting to Oracle in a VS .NET application

Ludek

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Hello Ludek,

I have following this thread because I've got this error message when trying to export reports to excel or RTF.

What is strange in my case is that this issue is on the production and the staging environment and not on my development one despite the same architecture between them.

I have updated all of our Crystal report (one for each environment) and are now on 10.3.0.601.

I have added the PATH and a registred key as you have advised.

But all of these solutions are not working in my case.

What are the other steps to solve my issue?

Thanks a lot for your help.

Jonathan

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Good morning Jonathan

Can you please create a new thread for this? This one is getting a bit long, is marked as answered and the issue you are seeing may be a bit different than what this thread was about.

Many thanks,

Ludek

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Hi Ludek,

In fact, it seems to be resolved with SPs. The only thing I haven't tested on my "bad" environment were to open a report after to have installed the SPs.

When you open a report, an automatic configuration finish the installation (open CR without report does not launch this configuration window).

After that, my Excel export works fine...

I'll open another thread in case of other issue.

Thanks a lot.

Jonathan

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Ludek,

What are the prerequisites for this "Fix Pack"? I downloaded the "cr2008fp27.exe" as per your hyperlink and tried to install, but got the error message:

"Crystal Reports 2008 FP 2.7 Update can not install because the version of the product on the system is too low. Setting the SKIP_PATCH_VERSION_CHECK property will skip this check."

I have a 64bit machine running Windows7 with both Crystal Reports 2008 (CR Developer Version 12.1.0.892) and Crystal Reports XI (CR Professional Version 11.0.0.1282) installed.

Re proposed solutions, I did not have an entry for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\Suite 12.0 entry in my registry, but I did have HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\10.5\Crystal Reports entry (which did have a "Path" setting) and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\Suite 11.0\Crystal Reports entry (which did not have any settings).

Updating the Path system variable worked in isolation for me as did copying libpng10.dll to the oracle path. Updating the Path did not work for a client however who is using our application to run Crystal. Have asked them to try copying the dll and awaiting feedback.

former_member183750
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If you don't have HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\Suite 12.0 reg key and CR 2008 is actually installed on this box, you got major, major issues.

Try to reinstall and since this thread is tagged as answered, please create a new thread once you tried the reinstall.

Ludek

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I have found this thread useful and it has solved most of my exporting issues, however I am still having an issue with exporting a report to Report Text Format and Excel. By adding the path to the Business Object directory it worked fine on 32-bit operation systems. On Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2, Enterprise x64 Edition adding it to the path will not work. I also tried using the short name since Business Objects was installed to c:\Programs Files (x86).... and I read that the "(" may cause problems" C:\PROGRA2\BUSINE1\BUSINE1.0\WIN32_1". I also searched the entire disk for the tile libpng10.dll and the only one I found was in Business object directory. The only way I found to resolve this issue is to copy the libpng10.dll to the directory where my application resides.

We do not distribute the merged module with our product so I am not sure of any ways to resolve this issue other then adding this file to our install or copying the file to our application directory during the install.

Are there any other Idea's you may have for me.

Thanks,

Sherri

former_member183750
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You say "We do not distribute the merged module...".

How do you distribute the CR runtime then?

Ludek

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/SAPCRNetSup

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Hi David,

I am experiencing the same issue as reported in this thread. Below are my system specifications:

Operating System - Windows XP Version 2002 SP3

Version of the .NET Framework - .NET Framework 2.0 SP1

How did you deploy? - Installed CR 2008 SP1 runtime with msi package

What is the file version of crpe32.dll on your server? You'll find this in the C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 directory - File was created 9/13/08 11:21AM, File Version: 12.1.0.882

How many libpng10.dll files are on your system? List all instances. - 1 instance is on the system located in C;\Program Files\Business Objects\Business Objects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 directory. It is dated 9/13/08 8:52:26AM version 1.0.30.1

Any additional comments - Export to PDF and rpt is working successfully. However, i can not export to xls format.

CRXF_XLS.dll is 9/13/08 9:38AM Version 12.1.0.882

CRXF_RTF.dll is 9/13/08 9:35AM Version 12.1.0.882

Kindly let me know if you need more information.

former_member183750
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There are work-arounds specified in this thread. However, the bottom line here is that this particular issue only occurs with Oracle and only if the Oracle ODBC driver is used. If you use the Microsoft ODBC Driver for Oracle, the issue will also go away. Now, this in a nut shell is the same finding that Hans reported in his post. I was able to confirm this behavior with a customer yesterday. This also occurs with Oracle 10 and 11.

Thus the possible solutions are;

1) Use Microsoft ODBC Driver for Oracle

2) Add C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 to the environment path variables

3) Back up the libpng10.dll in C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\db_1\bin and replace it with the libpng10.dll from c:\program files\business objects\businessobjects enterprise 12.0\win32_x86

4) Ensure that the reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\Suite 12.0\Crystal Reports\Path has a path value of;

C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86

I will be reporting this to QA so they can have a look and determine how best to resolve this apparent Oracle / Crystal Reports conflict.

BTW., I am also suspecting that when using the Oracle ODBC driver and the line of code;

reportdocument.refresh();

On Win 7 or Win 2008, an error is thrown;

"vshost.exe was closed

To help protect your computer, Data execution Prevention has closed

vshost.exe."

Ludek

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I'm having the exact problem described. My website is setup to a local server:

Server OS : Win XP Professional version 5.1 SP2

.NET Framework : version 3.5 (tried it under 2.050727)

How deployed : Published through .NET & IIS

CRRuntime_120_mlb.msi : date 9/6/08; size 44,173,824 bytes

File crpe32.dll : version 12.0.0.840

libpng10 instances :

C:\WebSites\CUCP\Bin

C:\WebSites\CUCP_08\Bin

C:\Program files\Business Objects\Business Objects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86

C:\Documents and Settings\branchg\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\CUCP(3)\PrecompiledWeb\CUCP\bin

C:\Documents and Settings\branchg\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\CUCP_08\PrecompiledWeb\CUCP\bin

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0507027\Temporary ASP.NET Files\cucp\e0c2b372\_shadow\3f3e16ad\bin\1

Additional Comments:

My problem is I can run the export through Visual Studio ok, but when I browse the website through IE I'm getting the {Invalid export DLL or export format} error. I recently upgraded the server to VS 2008 with the ver 3.5 framework hoping this would help but it didn't.

I hope this information helps you.

former_member183750
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A few questions:

1) Are you exporting to xls and / or rtf?

2) Can you export to pdf?

3) Have you attempted any of the suggested solutions / work-arounds?

E.g.;

- Some customers have resolved this by adding C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 to their environment path variables. Note the system must be restarted after editing the path variable.

- Copy libpng10.dll from C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 into the app directory

Supply answers to the queries below:

1) How did you deploy the CR runtime?

2) If you deployed with CRRuntime_12_0_mlb.msi - what was the date of the file and its size?

3) What is the file version of crpe32.dll on your server?+ You'll find this in the C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 directory

4) How many libpng10.dll files are on your system? List all instances.

Ludek

Former Member
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Turns out that the libpng10.dll is the file that is causing our problem. The excel export works fine if we put it in our executable path.

Is the libpng10.dll a Crystal Reports dll?

former_member183750
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From the properties of the dll, it does not look like a dll created by CR / BO / SAP (Copyright: 1998-2004 Glenn Randers-Pehrson et.al). Though it is certainly part of the CR install.

Ludek

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Also, we are using the CR 2008 msi to install the runtime.

Former Member
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We also were unable to export CR 2008 exports to excel. The modification to the Path System environment variable worked for us. However, I'm wondering if any progress has been made in determining what the real problem is.

Does the cr 2008 runtime installation have a problem? Is this still being looked at?

FYI, our clients previously had the Crystal Reports 9 runtime - win xp sp3.

Former Member
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Hi again,

path variable worked for me too, last time may be i didn't restart the application after setting the path variable.

Now it's working...

Former Member
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Hi,

I receive the same error and posted suggestions in this thread didn't resolve my issue.

I noticed a very strange situation ! It's very strange but i don't know why..

Let me explain with a dummy code example :

Entity[] source = null;
      source = new Entity[1];
      source[0] = new Entity();
      source[0].Name = "Mustafa";
      source[0].No = 1;

   Entity[] source2 = null;
	ReportQuery qery = new ReportQuery();
	qery.AgencyCode = "1000";
	qery.Month = 9;

      ReportQueryOperator op = new ReportQueryOperator();
      source2 = op.GetReport(qery);

      if (source != null || source.Length > 0)
      {
        CrystalReport1 report = new CrystalReport1();
        report.SetDataSource(source);
        MemoryStream oStream = null;
        oStream = (MemoryStream)report.ExportToStream(CrystalDecisions.Shared.ExportFormatType.Excel);

        SaveMemoryStream(oStream, @"c:\Testreport.xls");
        report.Close();
      }

if i comment this line

source2 = op.GetReport(qery);

it's working fine !!!

I have developed a operator class which returns data from a database (Oracle) and returns my source data.

As you can see i don't use the variable

source2

Problem is when i call this method of the class i got be exporting error, when i don't retrive data (comment the line i mantioned) i got no error.

any other suggestions ?

I have another problem which doesn't belong to this thread. Sorry abot this but it's a critical error. We got this error on our web application sometimes, amybe 30-50 times a day. I think its about users accesses the same report at the same time ??

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80004005): The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.    at CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.Controllers.ReportSourceClass.Export(ExportOptions pExportOptions, RequestContext pRequestContext)
   at CrystalDecisions.ReportSource.EromReportSourceBase.ExportToStream(ExportRequestContext reqContext)
   at CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.FormatEngine.ExportToStream(ExportRequestContext reqContext)
   at CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.ReportDocument.ExportToStream(ExportOptions options)
   at CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.ReportDocument.ExportToStream(ExportFormatType formatType)

any suggestions ?

Edited by: Mustafa Yasar on Feb 25, 2009 4:58 PM

Former Member
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it work! thanks a lot

Former Member
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Our company has also been experiencing this issue with deployed versions of our software, and during my examination of the error I have made the following discoveries:

  • For us the error has only been reproduced on Windows 2003 running Citrix

  • The error does not occur on Windows XP, Windows 2003 or Vista without Citrix

For installation of our application we use the CRRuntime_12_0.msm merge module (version 12.0.0.683, file size 46790KB)

As mentioned in the first post this error is related to the files crxf_rtf.dll and cfxf_xls.dll being unable to locate its reference to the file libpng10.dll during load.

I have run the application with ProcMon (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx) attached on both environments that work correctly and that does not work and iIve made these observations:

During load of dlls Windows searches for references in the following orders (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms682586.aspx):

1. The directory from which the application loaded.

2. The system directory.

3. The 16-bit system directory.

4. The Windows directory.

5. The current directory.

6. The directories that are listed in the PATH environment variable.

Looking at the ProcMon log for the environment where it works correctly (Windows XP, no Citrix) it looks like this . Numbers represent the search order mentioned above:

Load Image C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86\crxf_rtf.dll SUCCESS Image Base: 0x3e640000, Image Size: 0x79000

(1) QueryOpen C:\Program Files\<our application name>\libpng10.dll NAME NOT FOUND

(2) QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\system32\libpng10.dll NAME NOT FOUND

(3) QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\system\libpng10.dll NAME NOT FOUND

(4) QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\libpng10.dll NAME NOT FOUND

(5) QueryOpen C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86\libpng10.dll SUCCESS ...

So you can see it finds the file in the "current directory"

Now, from the environment where it does not work (Windows 2003 Server / Citrix):

Load Image X:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86\crxf_rtf.dll SUCCESS Image Base: 0x3e640000, Image Size: 0x79000

(1) QueryOpen X:\Program Files\<our application name>\libpng10.dll NAME NOT FOUND

(2) QueryOpen X:\WINDOWS\system32\libpng10.dll NAME NOT FOUND

(3) QueryOpen X:\WINDOWS\system\libpng10.dll NAME NOT FOUND

(4) QueryOpen X:\WINDOWS\libpng10.dll NAME NOT FOUND

(5) QueryOpen X:\Documents and Settings\<my user name>\WINDOWS\libpng10.dll NAME NOT FOUND

(6) QueryOpen ... loops trough all paths in the PATH variable, finding nothing

As you can see somehow the current directory is %USERPROFILE%\WINDOWS and not the Crystal Reports bin path in this environment at the time of loading the dll.

I have yet to discover why this is the case, but i tought i could share what I have found 😃

The %USERPROFILE%\WINDOWS folder is not a standard Windows folder, and I think it is used by Citrix for some files (like win.ini)

This also shows why adding the bin folder to the PATH variable is a valid workaround for some, but for us this is not really a good solution as we need this to work out of our installer. We don't always have consultants do the installations for the customers and we cannot expect them to manually edit the PATH variable, and we don't want to add to the PATH variable in the installer unless this is the only way...

So, I hope this maybe can bring you closer to being able to reproduce it. I'm still looking into it, will post more if I find something else interesting

Former Member
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ok, but when i try to add environment variable you have "Variable" and "Value". The value is the path but variable? CR 2008 using this variable?

former_member183750
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The system variable will be "path". So what ever is there, leave it, then add the path to the CR 12 "bin" path. Your path variable should be something like:

c:\program files\some folder

To add CR path:

c:\program files\some folder;C:\program files\business objects\businessobjects enterprise 12.0\win32_x86

Ludek

Former Member
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have the same problem here. Export with CR2008 work fine for MSWord or PFD, but i've got exception "Invalid DLL" with Excel...

What about the solution with environment variable. I try this one, but what I missing? What is the variable name I have to add with the path?

my system running : Win XP SP2, VS 2005 SP1, Office XP

thanks

former_member183750
Active Contributor
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The path to the "bin" directory for CR 2008 is:

C:\program files\business objects\businessobjects enterprise 12.0\win32_x86

That is where all the CR 2008 runtime gets installed.

Ludek

Former Member
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What steps are to be taken when installing Crystal Reports 2008 if you are running Visual Studio 2008? Our exports to excel record and rtf worked until we ran the Crystal Reports 2008 for .NET CD. Do you just use the common install option or do you need to customize the install. Which service packs and hot fixes need to be installed?

former_member208657
Active Contributor
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There has been some very good suggestions posted in this thread on how to resolve this issue. What have you done so far?

Former Member
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UPDATE:

Just installed the MSI on a Server2K3 (SP2) box - no registry entry was made by the MSI, either. After adding this entry, still didn't work, then I added to PATH. After rebooting, it appears that it is is now working properly.

This is coexisting with a CR11 RT install as well, since my main ERP app uses that version. This was one of my prerequisites before adopting CR 08 as my primary reporting tool.

At this point, it appears that one or the other fix took care of the problem for me. Since I'll only be installing this on a few Citrix servers, it's not a problem for us here. At least you all are on top of it.

If you need anything else, please let me know.

Bill Weaks

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ON A TARGET MACHINE:

Completely new install of XP SP2, with nothing but CR08 runtime and my VS 08 viewer application installed.

using crystal 2008 runtime 12.0.0.840, I believe I used the .exe and not the MSI (sorry, I can't remember) Versioning seems to be shrouded in the exe.

crpe32.dll is 12.0.0.840

1 instance of libpng.dll, ver 1.0.30

Both are in the appropriate directory.

I put the directory entry into my PATH and it did not work. Then I looked in the registry and there was no PATH entry under the key mentioned in previous posts. (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\Suite 12.0\Crystal Reports\Path) I added that, put in the PATH, reran the program and now it works.

So, it appears that the install didn't set the registry correctly. Not a huge deal for me, as this will only run on a few machines, but I can imagine it might be for others.

ON THE DEVELOPMENT MACHINE:

I have both CR RT for VS Studio 08 (10.5.2.0) AND Crystal 2008 installed (did the first before the second) and the program runs in VS 08 debug mode, but not when I publish it and run it as a straight executable outside the development environment - same machine! The PATH environment variable points to the proper directory (NOT the C: drive, though - I installed on F:) and the registry entry both exists and is pointing to the correct directory. Still working on that one!

Hope this helps, let me know if there's anything else I can provide.

Bill Weaks

Edited by: Bill Weaks on Dec 11, 2008 3:32 PM

Edited by: Bill Weaks on Dec 11, 2008 3:50 PM

former_member183750
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Bill, thank you for sharing the info. I would certainly expect problems with the path missing in the registry. I'll make that it's one of the 1st things to look at from now on when troubleshooting the issue. Not writing the path is unusual, but when you said that you may have used the exe (I assume this was the CRRuntime_12_0_mlb.exe), that aroused a lot of curiosity in me. I'll run off and test the scenario as until now, I assumed the msm or msi was used and it may be that the exe is the culprit here. I'll post my results.

Have a great day,

Ludek

Former Member
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CRRuntime_12_0_mlb.exe

is what was used, yes. Downloaded 12/1/2008.

BW

Former Member
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Hello I said something wrong in a previous post,

I solved this problem by adding c:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 to the Path Variable.

By

Giovanni

Former Member
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Giovanni, - you become my new hero 😃

For the quick test in the development environment it seems to work fine.

Did you had to set a path on the deployment system as well when you installed the crystal runtime (msi)? .. how did you deployed your application?

Many Thanx,

Pascal

former_member183750
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Note that this work-around is provided in the original sticky post:

Some customers have resolved this by adding C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86 to their environment path variables

Ludek

Former Member
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It really looks like this path variable is not set and it is highly needed. It didn't worked on a total new installed computer running Win XP with all available SP's of Windows, .NET, VS2008, CR2008 as long as the path variable is not set as described by Giovanni.

I think the path has to be set by the Crystal Reports Installation.

Anyway, thanks for all the helping comments 😃

former_member208657
Active Contributor
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Thanks for the continued replies on this topic. We still haven't seen anything that ties all this together. The PATH variable is a common fix for some people but it doesn't tell us why this fails in the first place. The only other thing I can think of right now is that the Path value in the registry is missing or incorrect.

You might want to look at the following key in the registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\Suite 12.0\Crystal Reports\Path

The value of Path should be C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86

Edited by: David Hilton on Nov 28, 2008 8:17 AM

Corrected the error in the Path

Former Member
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Good morning,

I've checked that for you and I do have that key in the registry.

but ...it is not exactly the same as you wrote down ... I hope you misspelt it. There is a 'space' between Enterprise and 12.0 and I can find a backslash '\' at the very end of the string. See my path:

Path="C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86\"

By the way, this path matches exactly the file structure on my computer.

I can imagine, that you might have a problem when putting together the path and the filename in your code. If you do something like Path + "\" + DLL-file for Excel export, you'll have the 'backslash' once too much in the full path.

That's all i can see from my point of view and than I would have a 'invalid export DLL'

Let me know if I can check anything else on my system for you.

former_member183750
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You are correct in that the path provided by David has a typo and there is a space there.

Re.;

I can imagine, that you might have a problem when putting together the path and the filename in your code. If you do something like Path + "\" + DLL-file for Excel export, you'll have the 'backslash' once too much in the full path

Good observation, however I / we have the same path on our computers and no issues exporting to xls, so I'd tend to discount that possibility(?).

My suspicion is that this is an environmental issue of a combination of Service Packs - both CR and non CR (OS, other 3rd party software, etc.) and / or some permission / security settings.

Ludek

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Hmm, ...

but what about the fact, that the PDF export works while the Excel export won't? And all that without any changes in the code and also not on the whole system.

So, to sum up again:

The PDF export worked and the Excel export did not. Than I added the path as described in the previous posts and this made the Excel export working while the PDF export worked all the time.

From my point of view, I've to say sorry guys and I might be wrong, but this issue let me point at Crystal.(It's not to make you bad, but looks the most logical to me)

I'm very curious to know how this story ends. 😃

former_member183750
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No worries about pointing at Crystal. I'm sort of in the middle, could be us, could be something else, could be a combination. Talk about sitting on the fence...

Only reason I am still thinking of environment is that we had a very similar situation with CR 9.1 when SP 3 came out for WIN 2003 server and then for XP. Export to xls before that worked. As soon as you applied SP 3 to those Operating Systems, export to XLS stopped working with the same error as we are getting in these cases. As it happens, SP 3 for those Operating Systems includes some sort of a security patch that was causing the issue - and with xls only! We had to release a "fix" to get around this MS security "patch"...

Anyhow, it will be interesting to see where this ends up.

Ludek

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I agree with Ludek here. We aren't saying it isn't a Crystal thing here. We are just saying we don't know the answer yet.

Our testing has shown that two similar operating systems can behave differently with the Crystal Reports 12 runtime installed. We've looked at how Crystal Reports is configured on the systems and they are identical. The good news here is that we do have a workaround to use the Path environment variable. This isn't something that will be used long term because we will eventually find the answer - it will just take time.

Former Member
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Hello People.

We have the same issue, Did you finally find a final solution ???

Thanks in advance.

ADrian.-

former_member183750
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Adrian, are you getting the same error under the precise conditions as specified in the first post of this thread? If not, please create a new thread.

If you are getting this error under specs as described in the 1st note, there are a number of suggestions in this thread as to how to go about resolving the issue. None of these work for you?

Ludek

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Hi!

Our company have been running into this bug on several occasions, so I decided to take another look at it, and I have been able to isolate the cause for the problem for our customers.

The error only occured for those of our customers using Oracle as the database backend for our product. After further examination it seems that the "Invalid export DLL or export format" error is triggered just by having an active Oracle database connection.

I have created a small console application project that reproduces the bug.


namespace CrystalReportsBugRepro
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            ReportDocument reportDoc = new ReportDocument();
            DiskFileDestinationOptions diskDestOptions;
            ExportOptions exportOptions;

            if ((args.Length >= 1) && (args[0] == "/triggerBug")) {                
                DbProviderFactory factory = DbProviderFactories.GetFactory("System.Data.OracleClient");
                DbConnection connection = factory.CreateConnection();
                try
                {
                    connection.ConnectionString = "Data Source=foo;User ID=foo;Password=foo;Persist Security Info=False;";
                    connection.Open();                    
                }
                catch (Exception e)
                {
                    // Ignore error, we just want the assembly to load
                }                
            }
            
            reportDoc.Load("HelloWorldReport.rpt");

            diskDestOptions = ExportOptions.CreateDiskFileDestinationOptions();
            diskDestOptions.DiskFileName = "ExportedHelloWorldReport.xls";
            
            exportOptions = reportDoc.ExportOptions;
            exportOptions.ExportFormatType = ExportFormatType.Excel;
            exportOptions.ExportFormatOptions = ExportOptions.CreateExcelFormatOptions();
            exportOptions.ExportDestinationType = ExportDestinationType.DiskFile;
            exportOptions.ExportDestinationOptions = diskDestOptions;
            
            reportDoc.Export(exportOptions);
        }
    }
}

Link to download the project with everything you need to reproduce the bug: [http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=8bc209a092cfa7c707258ee67c679e4ae04e75f6e8ebb871]

(Too be continued in next post, seems to be a post size limit here ...)

Edited by: Hans Olav Jensen on Oct 6, 2009 8:37 AM

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Continued from previous post:

When running the application directly the export of the file works fine, and no error occurs. If you run the application with the /triggerBug switch, it tries to open a database connection using the System.Data.OracleClient provider, and that causes the .Export() function to fail with the "Invalid export DLL or export format" error.

Some notes about this code:

  • I have installed Oracle Client version 10.2.0.1.0

  • I have the following Crystal Reports assemblies loaded:

  CrystalDecicions.CrystalReports.Design v.12.0.2000.0
  CrystalDecicions.CrystalReports.Engine v.12.0.2000.0
  CrystalDecicions.Enterprise.Framework v.12.0.1100.0
  CrystalDecicions.Enterprise.InfoStore v.12.0.1100.0
  CrystalDecicions.ReportSource v.12.0.2000.0
  CrystalDecicions.Shared v.12.0.2000.0
  CrystalDecicions.Windows.Forms v.12.0.2000.0

(I know I probably didn't need all those to reproduce this bug, but I just included the files we use in other projects)

  • The bug occurs only when attempting to open a connection, it's not enough to load the provider.

  • The bug only occurs when attempting to open a connection using a syntactically valid connection string. It does not have to be a connection string to an actual server, but it has to be well formed. If it is not well formed it appears it fails on an earlier stage and the error is not produced.

  • Note that i have only tried the Microsoft Oracle provider (System.Data.OracleClient), i have not yet tried Oracles own provider; Oracle.DataAccess.Client

My previous post describing our experiences with the error still holds true. It seems something causes the working folder to go astray and the load of the libpng10.dll file fails. So setting the path-variable to the path where the file is found, or copying the file to our application folder has worked as a temprorary fix.

However, this is an inconvenience for our customers costing them both time and money as they need consultants to do this work for them. Therefore I hope this information can bring you closer to working out this bug.

Edited by: Hans Olav Jensen on Oct 6, 2009 8:46 AM

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Hello,

I do have exactly the same problem. How far are you away from providing a solution to that issue?

Additional Information about my environment, etc...

I try to export reports as Excel and PDF.

The Excel brings out the exception "Invalid export DLL or export format"

When I look at the PDF export than the whole report is empty on the target system (empty means no data from the database, but shows the input parameters) within VS2008 it works and the data are displayed. Also the CR Developer is able to show the report data.

Operating System: Windows XP SP3 (trying on more than one computer)

Development Tool: Visual Studio 2008 SP1

.NET Framework: .NET 3.5 SP1

CR Developer: CR 2008 SP1 (currently the Trial)

Runtime: CR Runtime 2008 SP1 ( CRRuntime_12_1_mlb.msi /16.9.2008 )

Deployment: Build Solution into a VS Setup Project (with no Merge Module). Install MSI and own setup on target system.

CRPE32.dll on all systems is version 12.1.0.882 (BuildDate 2008/09/13:08:31:32)

LIBPNG10.dll version 1.0.30.1 (found once at same location as CRPE32.dll)

I'm looking forward to a working solution 😃

former_member183750
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To date, we have not been able to duplicate the issue in house... Until we do, there is not much we can do towards resolving the issue. I am looking for someone who is able to reproduce the issue to work with me (so far no luck) in order to actually reproduce it and then submit the reproducible steps to R&D for a fix. Once this is submitted to R&D, typically we're looking at 6+ months for a fix.

Ludek

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Ludek,

Should I invite you to Switzerland to have a look at the problem?

In the meanwhile, I'm working on that to avoid that problem by a new installation of the development system and the target system. I hope that will fix it or you'll have a way to retry...

Another question possibly related to that issue:

Do you have any information about Crystal Report Version incompatibilities?

VS Version <-> Runtime Version <->CR Developer Version <-> Is there something like a RPT File Version as well?

Pascal

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I am using .Net framework 1.1

I have a main report in it footer 3 link is available to view corresponding subreport.

It is working fine, but when I want to print it by using PrintToPrinter method then it only print the main report

not the linked subreport.

Also if I print it through crystal report report viewer it is working fine.

But my application want it to print through PrintToPrinter method.

Can anybody have any idea.....

Thanks

Uday

former_member183750
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Uday, how is your query related to the issue of exporting to XLS with CR 2008? If it is not, please create a new thread. If it is related, see the info we are looking for (see posts from Dave) and include that info here.

Ludek

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Hello I had the same problem.

My application is a WinForm.Net application, it runs on XP with the DotNet Framework 2.0

I deployed my application with ClickOnce.

To solve this problem, I went on Project properties-->In publish tab, in Application Files I set the Publish status of all the CrystalReports dlls to Include, and I deployed again. After that my problem was solved.

By

Giovanni

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Hello,

I'm receiving the same error.

I converted a CR9 template into a CRXI template. I realized the template contained special fonts for a countries logo. When you enter the letter "N" it will display a picture of a logo. Once I remove the fields in question, the template is able to preview. The two special fonts are on the server. I am not sure why this is occuring. If you can please help.

Thanks,

Melissa

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Melissa, this sticky post is explicitly specific to CR 2008 (see description in details section). As you are not using CR 2008, please create a new thread.

Ludek