Deployment For Visual Studio
You have two ways to deploy a project that uses Crystal Reports for Visual Studio:
- ClickOnce deployment
- Windows Installer deployment
ClickOnce deployment
ClickOnce deployment simplifies the deployment of Windows Applications across a network. With ClickOnce deployment, the end-user can now install the latest version of the application from a common web page instead of individually deploying the Windows Application to each of the target machines.
Benefits:
- Allows the end-user to install both the application and any dependencies such as the .NET Framework or Crystal Reports with just one click.
- Automatically detects when a newer version of the application is available then downloads and installs the update.
Limitations:
- Only works with the .NET 2.0 Framework or later.
- Increased installation time for the Crystal Reports runtime.
Windows Installer deployment
Windows Installer deployment is the preferred way to deploy projects that use the .NET 2.0 Framework. With Windows Installer deployment, you can deploy your projects to single machines, as well as to web servers without the need for merge modules.
Benefits:
- Allows you to update the Crystal Reports runtime with the latest service packs or Hot Fixes without redeploying your application.
- Crystal Reports runtime files are installed once.
- Permits the end-user to perform silent installations.
Limitations:
- Separate installations of the application and the Crystal Reports runtime components.
- All database and export drivers are installed.
- End-user must enter a valid product code at install time.