SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio (.NET)
Learn how to create and integrate Crystal reports into .NET applications and find the latest resources on the SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio page.
A. Description
Our report design software installs directly into Visual Studio. With this fully functional – and free software, you'll spend less and save time developing rich, interactive reports.
* Save time using powerful report creation, integration, and delivery tools
* Deliver interactive, graphical reports on any device through an XML Web services model
B. Get started
Get the latest version of Crystal Reports for Visual Studio (which integrates into VS IDE) and its runtime. You’ll also find licensing terms and steps to download BI Platform 4.x or Crystal Server 201x .net runtime.
Get Crystal Reports for Visual Studio
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Support for SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio
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Ask your questions to the SAP Community
C. Resources
Web pages:
Product page on sap.com
Documentation on SAP Help Portal
Guides:
SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio Installation Guide
SAP Crystal Reports .NET API Reference
SAP Crystal Reports .NET SDK Tutorial Sample Code
SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET SDK Developer Guide
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Report Application Server .NET SDK Developer Guide
Report Application Server .NET SDK API Reference
Support Packs:
Support Packs and fixed issues
D. Runtime licensing and FAQ
1. This section describes the rules that govern redistribution of software that embeds the SAP Crystal Reports runtime engine, embeddable report designer, or uses the Report Creation APIs.
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2. SAP Crystal Reports 2025 (64 bit), SAP Crystal Reports 2020 (64 bit), SAP Crystal Reports 2016 (32 bit), SAP Crystal Reports 2013 (32 bit), and SAP Crystal Reports 2011 (32 bit) do not include a runtime engine; they each provide a developer license (see table below).
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3. Customers are directed to use the free SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio or SAP Crystal Reports for Eclipse Software Development Kits (SDKs) for embedding reports into applications. The runtime versions can be downloaded here:
SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio (.NET): https://www.sap.com/registration/trial.9a4afb3b-7eaa-42af-98ce-abeae5deb784.html
SAP Crystal Reports for Eclipse (JAVA): https://www.sap.com/registration/trial.400f6ff7-cfe5-4c94-907b-8214c601a4f7.html---
4. This table below applies to:
.NET applications that include the SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio runtime engine.
JAVA applications that include the SAP Crystal Reports for Eclipse runtime engine.
Application Type | Client Applications | Server Applications |
| Application Use | ||
| Internal business purpose | Free (A) For internally developed and deployed application. | Free (B) For internally developed and deployed applications. |
| External business purpose (resold or redistributed to 3rd parties) | Free (C) For externally deployed desktop applications (including commercial applications). | Free (D) If the 3rd party only consumes the files provided by the runtime (i.e. pdf files), or directly inside the application. |
| Free (E) If the 3rd party needs to view .rpt files (no editing, no refreshing) then each 3rd party needs to download at least 1x SAP Crystal Reports Viewer license as 32 or 64 bit version (depending on how the application is compiled). | ||
| Paid (F) If the 3rd party needs to edit or refresh the .rpt files in self-service then each 3rd party named user must purchase 1x SAP Crystal Reports license as 32 or 64 bit version (depending on how the application is compiled). |
Definition of Client Application: The runtime engine is installed on the client machine. All report processing is local to that machine.
Definition of Server Application: The runtime engine is integrated in a way that allows more than one user to access the engine either directly or indirectly. Client applications installed using Windows terminal servers (like Citrix or Microsoft Remote Desktop) are considered server applications.
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5. Note that for the paid category, the customer should, for compatibility reasons, buy a copy of SAP Crystal Reports that matches the runtime engine embedded into the application.
=> Purchases can be performed in self-service here: https://www.sap.com/products/data-cloud/crystal-reports.html#buy-now
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6. It is the responsibility of the application developer to ensure their application is properly licensed before it is redistributed. Developers cannot distribute applications on the assumption that the application named user will acquire the proper licenses.
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7. The named users of the application developer need to license SAP Crystal Reports for their own report creation / edit / refresh activities.
=> Purchases can be performed in self-service here: https://www.sap.com/products/data-cloud/crystal-reports.html#buy-now
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8. You will find more detail about SAP Crystal Licensing and FAQs here: https://pages.community.sap.com/topics/crystal-reports/faq#d.-1.-sap-crystal-for-developers