Changing Text property of TextObject at runtime has unexpected results

Question

I'm using the version of Crystal Reports that ships with VS 2008.
At runtime, I'm replacing the text of a TextObject with new text. This works fine when the TextObject contains only literal information, but when the TextObject contains a formula field it does not work as expected.
If I have the following in the designer:
Text1 with text of "Number: {@FormulaX}"
And in the runtime code (in the InitReport method):
Text1.Text = "N.: {@FormulaX}"
The observed output is: N.: {@ForumlaX}
Instead of the expected output of: N.: 5
I even tried the following in the runtime code:
string foo = Text1.Text;
Text1.Text = foo;
And it produced similar results.
Any ideas on what's going on, or how to get the results I'm expecting?

Answer 1

The Text property doesn't interpret the formula syntax. You'll need to use a RAS TextObject to accomplish this.
Note: This inproc RAS code will only work with Crystal Reports XI R2 SP2 and Crystal Reports 2008.
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine;
using CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ClientDoc;
using CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.DataDefModel;
public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page
    protected ReportDocument boReportDocument;
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        if (!this.IsPostBack)
            ConfigureCrystalReports();
        CrystalReportViewer1.ReportSource = Session["Report"];
    protected void ConfigureCrystalReports()
        ISCDReportClientDocument boReportClientDocument;       
        CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.Controllers.ReportObjectController boReportObjectController;
        CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.TextObject boOldTextObject, boNewTextObject;
        CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.Paragraph boParagraph;
        CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.ParagraphFieldElement boParagraphFieldElement;
        CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.ParagraphTextElement boParagraphTextElement;
        boReportDocument = new ReportDocument();
        boReportDocument.Load(Server.MapPath("CrystalReport.rpt"));
        boReportClientDocument = boReportDocument.ReportClientDocument;       
        boReportObjectController = boReportClientDocument.ReportDefController.ReportObjectController;
        // Get a handle on the ReportObjectController so we can manipulate the TextObject       
        foreach (CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.ReportObject boReportObject in boReportObjectController.GetAllReportObjects())
            if (boReportObject.Kind == CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.CrReportObjectKindEnum.crReportObjectKindText)
                boOldTextObject = (CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.TextObject)boReportObject;
                boNewTextObject = (CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.TextObject)boOldTextObject.Clone(true);
                // Clear out all paragraphs from the current text object
                boNewTextObject.Paragraphs.RemoveAll();
                // Create a new Paragraph to add to our TextObject
                boParagraph = new CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.Paragraph();
                // Create a new ParagraphTextElement to be added to our paragraph
                boParagraphTextElement = new CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.ParagraphTextElement();               
                boParagraphTextElement.Text = "The value of my parameter is: ";
                boParagraph.ParagraphElements.Add(boParagraphTextElement);               
                // Create a new ParagraphFieldElement (our parameter field) to be added to our paragraph               
                boParagraphFieldElement = new CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.ParagraphFieldElement();
                boParagraphFieldElement.Kind = CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportDefModel.CrParagraphElementKindEnum.crParagraphElementKindField;
                boParagraphFieldElement.DataSource = "{?Currency}";               
                boParagraph.ParagraphElements.Add(boParagraphFieldElement);
                boNewTextObject.Paragraphs.Add(boParagraph);
                boReportObjectController.Modify(boOldTextObject, boNewTextObject);
                break;
        Session.Add("Report", boReportDocument);