TOPIC:

Recently, I started to develop few apps simultaneously. Some of them are converted from VO, some written from scratch. All of them use ReportPro 2. It's quite inconvinient that in every Debug and Release folder I have copy of ReportPro2.???.dll files. That is because I put them in reference list. I tried to put them in GAC, but I failed. When I distribute app I put all x# assemblies in private folder and that works fine. I wonder is it possible to do it with ReportPro assemblies as well.
Another question is what is the purpose of CaPaint.dll, Llb32.dll, Lli32.dll and Llo32.dll . It seems that these dlls are not .NET assemblies.

Zeljko

Hi Zeljko,
unfortunately .NET can load the assemblies only from the GAC or from the current directory, not more in the path.
Therefore, if you are not able to put the ReportPro assemblies in the GAC (maybe they are not signed), you have to have them in the Debug and Release folders.
But anyway, I would not have a solution for every application, but instead build a folder structure inside the solution. Fortunately in X# we have the possibility to have more levels.
CAPaint and the LightLib DLLs are used by ReportPro to display and print images - and since they are not .NET DLLs, putting them anywhere in the path should work.
Wolfgang

Wolfgang,
thank you for interested in my problem. It seems that ReportPro2.???.dll files are signed with a strong name key but I failed to put them to GAC. I tried it using gacutil and GAC manager. As I wrote, it is possible to put some assemblies in path defined in settings file. This is the code:
<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
<probing privatePath=""/>
</assemblyBinding>
</runtime>
Probably, solutin for me is to find the way to put ReportPro2.???.dll files in GAC or to wait that maybe in future ReportPro installer do to it for me.
Zeljko
Zeljko

Hi Zeljko,

Did you get an error message when registering the dlls to the GAC failed?

About CaPaint.dll etc, as Wolfgang said it is used for printing images. Indeed, they are not .Net dlls, they are simple Win32 dlls but .Net programs can easily use functions from such dlls as well, like you could do in VO with _DLL statements.

Hi Chris,
problem was my attempt to register without administrator permissions. Those were error messages. Except one. ReportPro2.Export.dll has no strong name.
Zeljko

Hi Zeljko,

Oh, you are right, indeed this library is not signed. Please open the project properties for it (I assume you use VS), go to the Build page and in the option "Code Signing KeyFile" enter the value that the other projects have as well:

$(SolutionDir)\Keypair.snk

Also set the option below "Sign the output assembly" to True, rebuild and it should work fine now.

Hi Chris,
my previous post disappeared because I didn't read warning about site maintence.
I don't use VS, I use XIDE instead. Signning seems to me quite complicated. So, I'm happy, for now, with this situation and wait for another ReportPro 2 build with signed dlls.
Zeljko

Hi Zeljko,

OK, this will be included in the next release!