I have a routine in VFP that installs the needed CR runtime files. A DBF determines the name of the DLL, where it needs to be installed, and if it needs to be registered. When the user attempts to run a report, the routine checks that all the DLLs are properly installed. It takes only a few seconds to check and about a minute to do the install.

>Hello,
>
>Just wanted to tell everyone our Crystal Runtime Solution, since we got alot of help here on this site we felt we should share our results! Beware this is a long post! And note... This is our solution, it probably won't fit everyone's situation and it probably isn't totally concise, for example, I am sure we don't need as many DLL's as we do but we don't have time/energy to go thru everyone looking for the best fit.
>Crystal Runtime – The Development:
>
>We currently use VFP 6.0 for our form/report/SQL access development. We have native VFP tables and tables resting on a MS SQL Server (7.0). We wished to move from the VFP report writer to something more modern (and to expand our horizons)by using using Crystal 8.0 Developer we created the reports and linked then via our VFP forms. To send the reports out to the users we used the Crystal Runtime feature.
>
>In creating the Crystal Reports Runtime application here is what was done.
>
>5 Things to consider:
>
>1) The type of Operating System
>2) The type of Crystal engine
>3) The export functions of the Crystal Report
>4) The type of features you will be incorporating on your report
>5) The type of databases/tables you will be using on your report.
>
>Explanation of each consideration:
>
>1 – For our situation we use both Windows 95 and Windows 98 (and very little Windows NT). Our window’s directories are WIN95, WIN98, and (WINNT) respectively. So when files are installed they are installed in either win95/system and win95/crystal or win98/system and win98/crystal (winnt/system32 and winnt/crystal). So a .BAT file was created for each scenario.
>
>2 – The type of crystal engine – We used the files for the Report Designer Component and the Crystal ActiveX Control. They went primarily into the win95/system directory.
>
>3 – For export function I included as much as possible leaving the choice to the user as how they wish to export the information.
>
>4. – I included files for charting, SQL and user function libraries.
>
>5 – I included the ability to interface with early version of Fox Pro, ODBC, Excel, Access, MS SQL Server, VFP, Active Data Source (ADO, RDO, DAO), Crystal SQL Designer Files and the Crystal Dictionary. Again I decided to err on the side of having all of the files instead of too few.
>
>The basic .BAT file is included below (substitute win95, win98, winnt depending on your operating system).
>---------------------------------------------
>c:
>cd "Program Files"
>md "Seagate Software"
>cd "Seagate Software"
>md "Shared"
>cd "Shared"
>y:
>cd apps
>cd crystal_runtime_files
>cd "programfiles_segatesoftware_shared"
>
>copy *.* "c:\program files\Seagate Software\Shared"
>
>rem ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>md "c:\win95\crystal"
>
>copy "y:\apps\crystal_runtime_files\windows_crystal\*.*" "c:\win95\crystal"
>rem ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>copy "y:\apps\crystal_runtime_files\windows_system\*.*" "c:\win95\system"
>rem ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>rem the next section registers (adds to registry) the following DLLS
>
>regsvr32 /s craxdrt.dll
>regsvr32 /s crviewer.dll
>regsvr32 /s crystl32.ocx
>
>rem HIT CLOSE (X) KEY TO CLOSE - ALL COMPLETE
>------------------------------------------------------
>
>"Y:\crystal_runtime_files\..." is a download network directory
>
>
>The files for each directory is as follows:
>/program files/Seagate Software/shared
>Amzi4.dll,Cdo32.dll,Keycode.dll,Ltkrn11n.dll,Olapdbmg.dll,Olapdbmg.tlb
>Pg32conv.dll,Rdwiz.dll,Rdwiz.ini,Rule1.dfa,Rule1.llr,S2sqlprs.dll,
>Sscdlg.cnt,Sscdlg.dll,Sscdlg.fts,Sscdlg.gid,Sscdlg.hpt,Sscrc.dll,
>Sscsdk80.dll,Ssfavorites.dll,Sstree32.dll
>/win95/system
>Cdo32.dll,Craxdrt.dll,Crpaig80.dll,Crpe32.dll,Crviewer.dll,
>Crystl32.ocx,Mdac_typ.exe,Mfcans32.dll,Msvcp60.dll,P2bdao.dll,
>P2ctdao.dll,P2irdao.dll,P2ixbse.dll,P2lodbc.dll,P2smon.dll,
>P2sodbc.dll,Pg32conv.dll,Regsvr32.exe,Sscsdk80.dll
>/win95/crystal
>Crxlat32.dll,U2fwordw.dll,P2bxbse.dll,U2fxls.dll,P2ixbse.dll,
>U2l2000.dll,U252000.dll,U2lcom.dll,U25dts.dll,U2ldts.dll,
>U2dapp.dll,U2lexch.dll,U2ddisk.dll,U2lfinra.dll,U2dmapi.dll,
>U2lsamp1.dll,U2dpost.dll,U2fcr.dll,U2fdif.dll,U2fhtml.dll,
>Usfodbc.dll,U2frdef.dll,U2frec.dll,U2frtf.dll,U2fsepv.dll,
>U2ftext.dll,U2fwks.dll
>
>Again sorry for the long post but maybe this will help someone out! Also remember this is how we did it. You may do it differently. And if you do please tell us, we would be happy to see someone's else version, maybe it will make ours run better! Also if there is a spelling mistake in the dll's sorry, don't take it too literally!
>
>Thanks,
>Rob Gould
>gould@drs-fsc-comm.com