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Crystal 11 PDF Export File TextBox Margins Different in Production

I have a Crystal 11 report that contains a textbox that is populated by a field from a stored procedure. When we run this report in our development and QA environments, the data shows properly and wraps properly. When the report is run in our production environment, the data on the right margin of the textbox is sometimes truncated.
1. The field has the "Can Grow" option turned on
2. The field is purposely much shorter than the page width, and does not extend beyond the page
3. There is no other element around the field, so I don't think there is any overlapping.

I wondered if it was possible to have some kind of configuration or .dll file that was different in the production environment that would cause this issue?
TextChipping.bmp
TextNotClipped.bmp

Mike McCracken

Are you using the same printer driver on all machines?
Crystal uses the printer driver to render the report. Changing drivers can cause issues like this.

mlmcc

CLo121

ASKER

That is an excellent question. Where do I look in order to find that answer? What is the file, and where is it normally located?

Mike McCracken

Check the default printer on each machine or server.

START --> SETTINGS --> PRINTERS

mlmcc

CLo121

ASKER

I'm having the print drivers checked, but I am getting a clarification question from our application developers. The way that our reports are called is from within a custom application. The application utilzes the CR11 API and references code such as:
report.OutputToFile(filePath, type)
- or -
report.OutputToFile("MyFile.pdf,ExportType.PDF)
report.OutputToFile("MyFile.doc, ExportType.Word)

App guys are telling me that the print driver should have nothing to do with this issue.

CLo121

ASKER

Export call is: report.ExportToDisk(ExportFormatType.PortableDocFormat, mOutputFile);

Mike McCracken

Crystal uses the printer driver in rendering the report regardless of how you generate the final product. It is their way of trying to ensure the displayed report is the same in all exports.

mlmcc

CLo121

ASKER

The suggestion does not seem to be the issue. There are no printers installed on the machines where the application resides.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Mike McCracken

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Mike McCracken

Can you install a printer on the server?
It doesn't need to really exist.

mlmcc

CLo121

ASKER

Interesting. How would installing a printer fix the issue of data truncation?

Mike McCracken

Crystal uses the printer driver to render the report. Changing it can cause some fonts to become slightly larger than others and Crystal cannot grow a field horizontally thus there can be some truncation.

mlmcc

CLo121

ASKER

ok, that makes sense, and I know that you have added that comment before. However, that would also indicate to me that perhaps we checked the wrong servers since, how would we be generating reports in PDF format unless we have a printer installed in the proper location, given your information.

Let me try this a different way. I need to identify the right location to examin. If my application is invoking the PDF export using this statement:
report.ExportToDisk(ExportFormatType.PortableDocFormat, mOutputFile);
then it must be invoking some .dll files. I want to identify some key .dll files that must be present in order for that statement to work. That should, in theory, identify the server to which my target crystal components have been installed, and by extention, the servier that should have the print drivers installed. Does that sound right?

Can you tell me some key files to look for and ther usual locations?

Sorry about this. It is an old application and none of the original architechs are still with the company.

Mike McCracken

Look for CRXF_PDF.DLL

mlmcc

CLo121

ASKER

Found those files. Still no printer installed. Unable to install printers without further proof. However, I'm grateful for the help.

CLo121

ASKER

Although I could not use the full solution because of limitations on my end, the comments were still very helpful.