Adding References of Crystal Report DLLs

Question

My OS is Windows 7 x64. Running VS Professional 2012. I'm working in a software written in C# and developed for .NET Framework 4.0 that uses Crystal Report. I've installed Crystal Report for developers version 13.0.5 on the machine.

I want to copy the required DLLs of Crystal Report to the output folder of the project. The purpose is to pack them with the installer so that the PC where the software will be installed won't be required to install Crystal Report.

I created a folder called DLLs and put the required Crystal Report DLLs in that folder. Then in the C# project's References node in solution explorer, I've added the DLLs located in DLLs folder. When I look in the added DLL's Property > Path, surprisingly I find that the path holds the path of the DLL from where I copied (C:\\Program Files... instead of D:\\Work...).

Why is this happening? How can I add reference to the copied DLL, not the original DLL?

Answer 1

Short Answer: Crystal Reports wont work without installing on client machines. What you can do is doing some research about what does the Crystal Reports Installer does and doit yourself whithin you application. See here

Other sources: here and here , or google it.

Regards