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- Automatically detects when a newer version of the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.
In this section: