[crystal-reports] How to integrate SAP Crystal Reports in Visual Studio 2017

Is it possible to use the report designer in the current release of Visual Studio 2017?

The SAP crystal report wiki for visual studio integration only states: "RC build currently not supported - Tested opening existing app and it works".

I have installed the latest developer SDK (Support Pack 19 v.13.0.19.2312), but when I try to open an existing report (.rpt), i got the following message:

There is no editor available for 'C:...\Report.rpt'.

Make sure the application for the file type (.rpt) is installed.

EDIT (2018/02/28)

By the time of asking this question I had installed SP19 on my machine. The current version which should resolve all my issues is SP22, which was released at 2018/01/11. All necessary information and download links are still available in the SAP crystal report wiki.

EDIT (2019/03/20)

Thanks to @ANewGuyInTown: The current version is 13.0.24.

As of 20/03/2019 -> There is a new version of Crystal report for Visual Studio. The version is 13.0.24.

The provided version in the accepted answer is 13.0.21.

The newer version worked for me without having to do any workaround.

This error occurs because at the end of the installation of Crystal Reports SP21 for Visual Studio 2017, the following screen appears:

Do not check to install in runtime, this default to come marked to me is wrong. Install only Crystal Reports SP21 for Visual Studio 2017.

So to sum up, this is what worked for me after upgrading my VB 2010 (CR18) to VB 2017:

1. Uninstall all runtimes AND CRforVS.
2. Reboot
3. Install CRforVS SP23 (no runtimes needed on developer machine).
4. Open project, remove old DLL references.
5. Add new references (DLL files that you need from C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Crystal Reports for .NET Framework 4.0\Common\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\win32_x86\dotnet)
6. Rebuild All.
7. Have fun.

I had exactly the same problem with my VS 2013 solutions when I install VS 2017 and Crystal Reports SP21. In fact it's because VS does not necessarily convert the solution in the first launch.

Once you have installed Crystal Report SP 21, make sure that VS 2017 upgrade your solution : a window must appear "SAP Crystal Reports, version for Visual" with a radio button "Convert the solution".

Screenshot in french :

When I used the menu "File / Open / Project/Solution", the conversion was not done.

I have to do that :

1. Add VS 2017 on the tasks bar
2. Run VS 2017 and Open the solution with File menu
3. Try to build the project, errors appear with Crystal Reports
4. Close VS 2017
5. Right click on VS 2017 shortcur in then tasks bar and open the solution directly
6. The conversion run this time, you can open .rpt and the solution build without error.

Crystal Reports SP 19 does not support Visual Studio 2017. According to SAP they are targeting Visual Studio 2017 compatibility in SP 20 which is tentatively scheduled for June 2017.

To integrate SAP Crystal Reports with Visual Studio 2017 below steps needs to be followed right:

• Uninstall all installed components from system related to Crystal Report. [If any]
• Install compatible Crystal Report Developer Edition (as per target VS) with administrator priviledge. [As of writing, latest compatible service pack is 23]
  • Install appropriate Crystal Report Runtime (x86/ x64) for Visual Studio. [Not mandatory]
• Open solution in VS and remove all assembly references from project related to Crystal Report. [If any]
• Include following assembly references in project:
  • CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine
  • CrystalDecisions.ReportSource
  • CrystalDecisions.Shared
  • CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Design
  • CrystalDecisions.VSDesigner
• Make sure "Copy Local" property is set to "True" in reference properties.
• Build/ Rebuild project.

I post an answer because I can't comment but I followed @DrCJones steps. I installed the new Crystal Reports SP21 for Visual Studio 2017 with an older version running on my Windows 10. Installer warned me that it detected an older version and that it will overwrite it. Installation were through but I had the following message when I tried to open a project with reports in VS2017:

The Crystal Reports Tools Package did not load correctly

I couldn't edit reports either. So, I manually uninstalled CR Runtime Engine & CR for VS, then reinstalled SP21, finally rebooted.

Now it works :)

Please wait Support Pack 21 in September 2017

UPDATE: More info

https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/Crystal+Reports%2C+Developer+for+Visual+Studio+Downloads

VS 2017 - Tested opening existing app and it works, CR for VS is not integrated into the app so no new CR projects available- should be fully integrated in SP 21

About release

Link: https://answers.sap.com/questions/168439/crystal-report-for-vs-2017.html

Moderator Don Williams said:

Not supported yet, I tried to get it into SP 20 but due to time constraints DEV can't get it into VS until SP 21, due out in September time...

Extracted from official SAP site https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/Crystal+Reports%2C+Developer+for+Visual+Studio+Downloads.

Item # 3 fixed my installation.

This applies for ANY Patch after SP 21

1. FlexNet and In-Place Upgrade does not work: Once user receive the update notification from FlexNet server and finish SP21 upgrade, the product will NOT work. User MUST repair CR4VS and CRRuntime64 in Control Panel\Programs. That’s a by design change to installer.

   a. Please notice that we are still facing problems on configuring FlexNet upgrade server, so currently user will NOT receive SP21 notification

2. Microsoft Windows Update KB2999226 is a prerequisite for SP21.

   a. This is same as BI 4.2 SP4 and BI 4.1 SP10. Please refer to SAP Note 2451830.

3. For VS2017 integration, user needs use “run as Administrator” by right-clicking setup.exe, even if you are already log on by using Administrator account

4. As most of CR/RAS .NET Assemblies are now re-versioned from 13.0.2000.0 to 13.0.3500.0, user MUST remove all old CR assemblies from Reference list and add the new version of CR assemblies, then rebuild the application.

   a. For those customer/user who do not wanted to rebuilt their application, there’s workaround to use in app.config/web.config, please see attachment.

WinFormCRViewer.zip

5. For reports using the ADO.Net DB connection, in previous SP's, you could only work under .Net Framework 2.0/3.5, so using in app.config is required. Now in SP21, ADO.Net is only supported on .Net Framework 3.5 or above.

I had the same problem and I solved by installing Service pack 22 and it fixed it.

Starting with Visual Studio 2010, crystal reports is no longer installed with Visual Studio. It can be installed separately by downloading the install from SAP crystal reports website. SAP crystal reports provides two installations. The first is SAP Crystal Reports version for visual studio that is installed for working with crystal reports in visual studio. The other is SAP Crystal Reports runtime engine for .NET Framework that is installed when the application is deployed on server machine.

SAP Crystal Reports in Visual Studio 2017 is now planned for Service Pack/Support Pack 21 (as of Apr 04'2017). The current available service/support pack is 19. Service/Support Pack 21 is expected to be released in September 2017.

You can use the MSI to install on the VS PC, it won't integrate into VS so you won't be able to design reports within the VS IDE but your app will compile. There will not be any Templates either so just add the CR Viewer to the Tool bar. Upgrading an exist VS app will simply work.

So in the meantime to edit rpt files you'll need the stand-alone Crystal Reports Designer until Support Pack 21 comes along.

Sources:

https://forums.asp.net/t/2110984.aspx?VS+2017+and+Crystal+Reports https://answers.sap.com/questions/168439/crystal-report-for-vs-2017.html

I had a workaround for this problem. I created dll project with viewer in vs2015 and used this dll in vs2017. Report showing perfectly.

FYI: Taken from: https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/Crystal+Reports%2C+Developer+for+Visual+Studio+Downloads

Overview

Support Packs for “SAP Crystal Reports, developer version for Microsoft Visual Studio” (SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio) are scheduled on a quarterly bases and support the following versions of Visual Studio:

• VS 2010 – original release and higher
• VS 2012 – SP 7 and higher
• VS 2013 – SP 9 and higher
• VS 2015RC – SP14
• VS 2015 – SP 15 and higher
• VS 2017 - SP 21 and higher

Download Crystal Reports developer, for Microsoft Visual Studio