.NET 2005 Print issue in deployment ASP

[Former Member]

Hi all,

I have a print issue with Crystal XI R2 (SP4) in runtime, but not in development.

Here's what we've recently done:

1. Un-installed R1, and our own install for the deploy environment.

2. Installed R2 on Dev environments.

3. Rebuilt Deploy project with the files: "CrystalReports11_5_maps.msm" and "CrystalReports11_5_NET_2005.msm".

4. Ran the deploy project (setup) in the runtime environment.

5. Repeated the identical steps for a legacy app in VB6 (also runs locally on the same server as ASP.NET app deploy site). We also ran the deploy for the RDC: "CrystalReports11_5_RDC_Runtime.msm", "CrystalReports11_5_RDC_Reportengine.msm", "CrystalReports11_5_RDC_License.msm", "CrystalReports11_5_RDC_Designtime.msm"

Everything works wonderfully in the dev environment for the ASP.NET application.

In the deployed environment, I'm getting the print dialog box (the Crystal box that pops up before the printer selection dialog) - but it's blank! Again, this works in dev environment, but not in deployment. This print dialog functions fine in the 10.2 (came with .NET?) version.

TIA

Troy

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Solved it with this:

http://devlibrary.businessobjects.com/BusinessObjectsXIR2SP2/en/devsuite.htm#en/CrystalReports_dotNE...

If the link is missing no longer found, here is/was the text of the solution from the online doc from SAP site. Specifically, adding the XML settings, changing the URL setting to be the path to the .cab, and adding the .cab file to the location is what helped.

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Original text from online SAP Docs -

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You can print a report two ways with Crystal Reports XI R2:

From the GUI, with the Print button on the toolbar that is provided with the CrystalReportViewer control on a Web or Windows Form.

From the API, with the ReportDocument object.

Printing through the GUI

In a Windows application, the print button on the CrystalReportViewer control toolbar opens the standard print dialog box.

In a Web application the print button on the CrystalReportViewer control toolbar opens a secondary Web page that emulates a print dialog box. A pdf is generated on the Web server, and then downloaded and displayed on the Web page. (It works much like Print Preview.)

Printing through the API

Users typically print reports from their own machines, with the print button in the toolbar of the CrystalReportViewer control. However, if you design a Web application in which reports are printed on the Web server, you could write code with the ReportDocument object model to print reports directly from the server to a specific printer.

To learn how to print reports programmatically, see Printing and Setting Print Options.

Printing using the ActiveX control

In recent versions of Crystal Reports, you can specify the print mode using the new CrystalReportViewer.PrintMode property. It contains two enumerated values: ActiveX, and PDF.

When the property is set to PrintMode.PDF, the report is exported as a PDF on the Web server, and then streamed to the browser. The user is given the option to print directly to the printer. This option is cross-platform compatible.

When the property is set to PrintMode.ActiveX, an ActiveX printing control allows users to print the report directly to their local printer. This option is for Windows only.

In Crystal Reports XI R2, the ActiveX print control is not installed on the local machine by default for security reasons. Instead, it must be accessed as a .cab file from an external URL. The PrintControl.cab file can be downloaded from the Business Objects tech support Web Site, at which point you can place the cab file in a web server virtual directory for URL access.

To make the cab file visible to your Crystal Reports Web Site, add the following xml to your Web Site's web.config file:

<configSections>

<sectionGroup name="businessObjects">

<sectionGroup name="crystalReports">

<section name="printControl" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler, System, Version=1.0.3300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089, Custom=null" />

</sectionGroup>

</sectionGroup>

</configSections>

<businessObjects>

<crystalReports>

<printControl>

<add key="url" value="http://myserver/PrintControl.cab" />

</printControl>

</crystalReports>

</businessObjects>

Note Only Internet Explorer supports ActiveX controls. Printing from a non-Internet Explorer client (FireFox, Safari, Mozilla, and others) reverts to the PDF export dialog.