Select the "No Printer" Option Under Print Setup

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Another way to optimize scalability in a Crystal Reports for Visual Studio project is to select the "No Printer" option under Print Setup.

The "No Printer" Option

Typically, when a Crystal report is created, a default printer has been designated on the development machine. This default printer determines the layout of the images, fonts, and database fields on the report.

The advantage to designating a default printer is that it offers consistency in the display of reports: reports are displayed to the layout of the default printer. The disadvantage to using a default printer is that it can present a scalability problem.

For example, some printer drivers contain memory leaks or file handle leaks. If a report is configured for a printer driver that has one of those issues, the performance of the report is adversely affected.

Therefore, as a best practice for scalability, modify your report to use no printer driver.

Note

One consequence of setting a report to have no printer driver is that the report layout may no longer be identical to the output from your intended printer. It is recommended that after you have modified the report to have no printer driver, test your report on the intended printer. If necessary, adjust the report layout.

To modify your report to use no printer driver

  1. In Solution Explorer, double-click your report.
  2. Right-click on any open area of the report, point to Designer, and then click Printer Setup.
  3. In the Print Setup dialog box, select No Printer, and then click OK.
  4. From the File menu, click Save All.