Crystal Report Viewer fails for browser versions =10

Question

We're using the Crystal Reports for VS2010 SP2 and get the following error when trying to generate a report in Firefox 10.0.2 and Chrome 18.0.1025.11 beta-m:
[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   CrystalDecisions.Web.ViewerGlobal.get_IsNetscape6Up() +88
   CrystalDecisions.Web.CrystalReportViewer.Render(HtmlTextWriter output) +83
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +27
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +8991378
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer) +25
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children) +208
   System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer) +173
   System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlContainerControl.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer) +31
   System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm.Render(HtmlTextWriter output) +53
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +27
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +8991378
   System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer) +40
   ASP.app_filters_reportviewer_aspx.__Render__control1(HtmlTextWriter __w, Control parameterContainer) in c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\qfmui\10eb2bd5\d0d0d3a5\App_Web_e2fg2prg.2.cs:0
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children) +109
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer) +8
   System.Web.UI.Page.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer) +29
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +27
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +8991378
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer) +25
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +3060
If I change the user agent string in Firefox to that of Firefox 7.0.1 everything works as expected, this implies there is some logic in get_IsNetscape6Up() which is failing because the major browser version as reported by the user agent string is two digits instead of one.
We encountered a similar issue for our legacy pages containing Infragistics 2007 controls but were able to fix that by overriding the System.Web.Configuration.HttpCapabilitiesBase.BrowserCapabilitiesProvider and faking the browser version to 9.80.  Crystal Report Viewer is apparently not using .Net's built in HttpBrowserCapabilities object, is there anything else I can adjust to stop the viewer failing?

Answer 1

hello Robert
Today must be my day. I already got a reply from PM (normally it takes a "bit" longer...). Anyhow, here is what he said:
With Firefoxu2019s release cycles, I donu2019t think weu2019ll be able to officially support the latest versions
of Firefox at every service release.  We do our best to test the released versions of Firefox
that align with our releases.  I donu2019t know the details but Iu2019ve heard there is a plan in place where
the support team(s) (?) will test the most recent releases of Firefox with whatu2019s currently
shipping by SAP and log bugs as necessary.
(umm, this is my - Ludek note here ) -> news to me re. support doing QA... find out something new every day. Anyhow, continuation of the message from PM:
The current plan for CR for VS2010, the SP3 release (expected in April) will support up to
Firefox 9.  If there are reproducible bugs in Firefox 10 (or higher), then please enter a bug
and escalate and it will be investigated for the next available release.
I'll revisit this once SP3 is out there and do an escalation for Firefox 10 - ok?
- Ludek