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Marcelo Camarate
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Installation package ASP.NET with Crystal Reports version 13

Hi Experts,

I developed a web application using VB.NET 2010 that uses the Crystal Reports version 13.

When I created the setup project using the Visual Studio Installer, I checked the "SAP Crystal Reports runtime engine for .NET Framework" with "Download prerequisites from the same location as my application" option checked too, in the window prerequisites. Therefore, is included in the installation package the .MSI file from Crystal Reports to the reports to be shown.

My problem is that some of our customers do not allow to run an installation package on the server, but only the files that must be copied to the IIS application folder.

So, is there any way to create an installation package that has only files that should be copied, without need to add .MSI installation files?

Regards,

Marcelo Camarate
Visual Basic.NETInstallationCrystal Reports

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Marcelo Camarate

8/22/2022 - Mon
Mike McCracken

Is this going to be a web application?

Crystal needs many of the files that are in the msi to be able to run reports.

mlmcc
Marcelo Camarate

ASKER
Hi mlmcc,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes. It is a Web application.

Regards,

Marcelo Camarate
Vadim Rapp

> customers do not allow to run an installation package on the server, but only the files that must be copied to the IIS application folder.

I didn't quite get, what they allow and what they don't. They run the main installation anyways, don't they?
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Mike McCracken

As far as I know Crystal doesn't use IIS in the normal web applications you write unless you wrote it that way.  It generally expects its files to be in specific directories.

mlmcc
Marcelo Camarate

ASKER
Hi mlmcc and Vadim Rapp,

Thanks for your reply.

Currently our application uses VS 2005 and Crystal Reports 10. Now, for many reasons, we need to upgrade it to VS 2010 with CR 13, and the Crystal is the big problem.

Then, to you understand  the current procedure that we use in the customers that do not permit installation packages execution, I describe below the step by step:

1) We generated the installation package in VS 2005;
2) We executed the installation package on a machine in our company;
3) We selected all changed files and creates a ZIP file with them;
4) We send this ZIP file to our customer that puts the changed files on the IIS folders.

This procedure works fine today with CR 10 because in the first installation we require that Crystal files are copied to the respective directory "inetpub\wwwroot\aspnet_client".

But now, we decided upgrade to CR 13. But, in Internet I only found the orientation to run the "SAP Crystal Reports runtime engine for .NET Framework" on the server side, and these customers do not permit it.

So, I want to know if is possible to use with CR 13 the same procedure that we use today with CR 10.

Regards,
Vadim Rapp

So, the problem probably is in the piece "We selected all changed files", which was sufficient for CR10, but not for CR13. You need to find out all changes made in the system by the installation of CR13. Maybe it creates some registry keys, in addition to the files. Maybe some assemblies have to be put in GAC. Maybe something else. You have to reverse-engineer the installation and have your client to do it "manually".

(Which, of course, is an absurd).

Finding out all changes can be done by installation-authoring software capable of creating repackaged installations - Wise package Studio, Installshield Admin Studio, and such. They create system snapshot before and after, and compare.
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Mike McCracken

Check this site.  The runtimes may be what you need.

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-7824

mlmcc
Vadim Rapp

He has runtimes, but his client does not want to install them, while expecting them to work.
Vadim Rapp

...btw... perhaps you might upgrade to VS2010, but still keep CR10?
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Marcelo Camarate

ASKER
Hi mlmcc and Vadim Rapp,

Thanks for your interest.

We need update our application to VS2010 because we want to use the Telerik controls, and they only work from this VS version.

Then, I think that no had other choice than force our customers execute "SAP Crystal Reports runtime engine for .NET Framework" in server.

Best regards,