How do I redistribute a VB 6 application that uses Crystal Reports?

Question

Assuming target system has "Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2008", how can I distribute a VB 6 application excutable along with report file? Just moving the executable and report file doesn't work. I want to know how to create a redistributable package. We use CR10.

Answer 1

My suggestion is to create a setup program that will automatically install your application's executable file and all of its dependencies (including the Crystal Reports runtime libraries) onto your target machines.

You could use the Package and Deployment Wizard provided with Visual Basic 6, but I personally wouldn't recommend it.

I'm particularly fond of Inno Setup, which is a free installer with a simple, intuitive interface used by many different commercial and open-source applications. It's easy to use to install VB 6 applications, as well. See this knowledge base article for a listing of the DLLs you need to include as part of the VB runtime, and specific instructions on how to modify the installer script accordingly.

Answer 2

As explained in this link, you need to deploy the Crystal Reports Runtime:

http://resources.businessobjects.com/support/additional_downloads/runtime.asp