Error opening an .RPT Crystal Report file

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I have a crystal report .RPT file which was created in 2004. I am having trouble opening it using software like VB or Crystal Report. It shows "Failed to open Document", follow by "Invalid Report Schema". Seems like the file itself it corrupted, but there is an application generating reports using this file that is still running fine, and it is able to read the file without any problem.

Is there any other software I can use to possibly open this file up? I need to edit the formula expression in a couple fields. When I tried NotePad++, it shows a bunch of unreadable characters which don't help at all. By the way, this file seems to be consisted with a bunch of reports. (There are about 10 reports within this .RPT file.)

I am not sure what the problem is here, could anyone please help me? Any help/suggestion is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

1
vb.netcrystal-reportsvb6crystal-reports-8.5
Have you buildable source of your report generation application? If yes, then you can on same machine create simple app (using same references as current app), which opens RPT file and saves it as another RPT file - result should hopefully be readable by all newer CR. If not, then have you got any backups? :) – Arvo

1 Answers

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In that era of Crystal Reports, version 10 would have been the current release. Through version 10, .rpt files could not be successfully opened by any version earlier than the version which last saved the file. Ergo, to open and edit the file, you need the designer/editor for the version which produced that file, or else a newer designer/editor.

If your current Crystal Developer tool wont open it, then it is from a newer one than you are using, or it is truly corrupted ( but since you say it is running well within an application then it's almost certainly not corrupted ).

You need to determine specifically what version of Designer DLL is being invoked by the application that is running the report. Open the source code project and look at the REFERENCES, get the name and GUID of the CRAXDRT.DLL ( or CRAXDDRT.DLL ) and then find exactly that entry in the registry. There you will see which version of Crystal Designer deployed that CRAXDRT.DLL. THAT is the edition you should be able to open the file with.

If you dont have that edition in house, you will have to go to SAP ( or eBay , etc ) and buy one. The oldest SAP sells now is version 11, which should be able to open 8.5 rpts and above. version 11 no longer has support from SAP ( yes, they sell it but no longer sell support, I know, it was only a week ago I talked to them about upgrading my v10 to something newer ). And v12 support is soon to be dropped.

It looks like you are at the crossroads of a Crystal upgrade. If you are still working with VB6 as your application language, then V11 R2 is probably your best bet. g'luck.. I feel your pain. I been there.