Stand-alone report preview through RDC/ActiveX Crystal Reports XI - delphi

Question

I'm porting an application from Crystal Reports 8 to Crystal Reports XI in Delphi 5, using the RDC/ActiveX interface.
In Crystal Reports 8, I was able to bring up the crystal reports default report viewer window for a report like so:
RptInvoicing.Destination := 0; // To: window
RptInvoicing.Action := 1; // Execute
However, this does not fly with CR XI. Printing and exporting I've figured out to work like this:
crReport.PrintOut(True);
...
crReport.Export(True);
But I haven't been able to find anything relevant to show the default preview window. I've tried implementing my own using the report viewer component, but it has a lot of problems like locking up when resizing, freezing and crashes, so it's not a viable solution for a production app.
Even the official support forums weren't of help, I only got a nasty answer to go look at the manuals, which I've been through several times and can only refer to as bad. It's not every day you see such bad documentation for an enterprise product. I found nothing relevant to this in their manuals, so I'm led to think their own staff have no idea about this either.
So I'm hoping someone here could tell me if the default report viewer still exists in CR XI, and if it does, how to invoke it? If it doesn't, is using the report designer component really the only solution to create one?

Answer 1

I recently had the same problem, and described the solution here. I am using Delphi 2007, but since the code involves calls to an external ActiveX DLL, it should work for you too.

Answer 2

From their documentation:
Craxddrt.dll (Crystal Reports ActiveX
Designer Design and Runtime Library)
is a unified object model that
combines the runtime capabilities of
the Craxdrt.dll (Crystal Reports
ActiveX Designer Run Time Library)
with the design time capabilities of
the Craxddt.dll (Crystal Reports
ActiveX Designer Design Time Library).
Craxddrt.dll will replace Craxddt.dll
for versions 8.5 and up. Both the
Craxddrt.dll and the Craxdrt.dll
contain all the objects and associated
methods, properties, and events needed
for creating, opening, exporting,
saving, and printing a report at run
time. In addition, Craxddrt.dll is
either used with the RDC ActiveX
Designer when designing reports at
design time, or used with the
Embeddable Designer when designing
reports at run time. See “Embeddable
Crystal Reports Designer Control
Object Model” on page 343 for more
information.
Note: The RDC ActiveX
Designer is only available in
Microsoft Visual Basic.
Prior to
version 8.5, the Craxdrt.dll would be
distributed with an application. Now
the developer has a choice of two
automation servers to distribute.
Craxdrt.dll is backwards-compatible
with previous versions and contains
all the features introduced in this
version. Use the Craxdrt.dll for any
client-side application that does not
contain the Embeddable Designer, or
use it for any server-side
application. Craxddrt.dll is
apartment-model threaded, but is not
thread safe, and can only be used in a
client-side application. Although the
Craxddrt.dll is a fully functional
automation server for the RDC, and can
work in any client-side application,
it will increase the install size.
Therefore, it is recommended that you
only use Craxddrt.dll with the
Embeddable Crystal Reports Designer
Control.

Answer 3

I can't say anything about Delphi, but in VB we are using CRViewer ActiveX Control. Using it is straightforward - you put viewer control on form and assign RDC object to it. This is covered in CR help somewhere. (I can't look at code ATM to provide working exmples.)