Crystal Reports in Visual Web Developer Express is possible

Like many Crystal developers, I am asked if I can put a specific Crystal report on a web server so that users can update it “live”. I’ve been using crystal for a while now and with all the advancements in Visual Studio I was finally able to do it. Soon after, I was transferred to another group that had crystal licenses but no web development tools. I downloaded Web Developer Express and tried to get them to work together. I couldn’t do it directly so here is the solution I found.

There is a server installation file on the Business Objects website for the version of Crystal Reports you are using. Choose the latest version and install it on your web server. Then create a new website on the server using visual web developer express.

Import / create a pair of files from an existing Crystal website (web.config and your aspx page). Then customize it to your liking using visual web developer express.

Some fun facts to know.

This only works on the main web server. Let your administrator know that this is what you need.

Always get the latest version of Crystal to develop. So if you have XI, get XI version 2 with the latest patches before developing. If you have crystal 2008, just get the latest patches.

The intellisense function will not work with any of the glass elements. You will have underlines throughout your code where you refer to crystal.

Microsoft usually has a version of the full visual study that you can evaluate … will your boss spend some money buying this great tool after you show him what it can do? Try telling it that you need it now to maintain the site.