Dynamic image report not working

Question

Hi,
I am trying to create a report which has a dynamic image.
- the report has
a parameter: {?image_path}
- user specifies the image location (ie. c:\image1.png)
- the report take the image location as a parameter and change "graphic location" of the picture object.
The following works fine in Crystal Report 11 R2, but not in .net application.
I checked the passsed parameter value by displaying it, and the parameter value was correct.
does anyone know why the picture object is not updated based on the value of parameter?
Thanks,

Answer 1

If you are using IIS on your local machine then that does not necessarily mean that the application has access to the root of the C drive (or your image folder).  Depending on the version of IIS you are using (IIS5 on XP and Win2k) or IIS6/7 on win2k3/2k8 there are different possibilites.
I'll assume Windows 2003 server.  Here permissions of the application are determined by the application pool that the application is running under.  Typically this will be the 'Network Service' account which would not likely have permissions to all of the files and folders on your machine.  An easy test (to find out if its permissions) is to change the Identity used by your application pool from 'Network Service' account to the 'Local System' account, which should have access to most folders on your machine.  If this works, then its a permissions issue.
If you are running the application directly from the Visual Studio IDE and you created your website as a 'File System' web site, then it will not use IIS but rather a personal web server called WebDev.WebServer.exe.  If this is the case, you'll see that executable in Task Manager.  This process will run under your currently logged on credentials and should have full access to the file system as would Crystal Reports designer or any Windows application you run.  If images still do not show up in this case (or the case of IIS running under the Local System account, then the next possibility is that you do not have CrystalImageHandler set up correctly in your application's web.config file. To make sure this is set up correctly then you will need to set this up as described in the [Crystal Reports Developer guide|http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/cr2008V1/en/crsdk_net_dg_12_en.zip]
If you download this help file, search for "web.config" and look at the CrystalImageHandler section.
If you are on Win2k8 using IIS7, then you will need to run your application pool in 'Classic' mode rather than 'Managed Pipeline' mode in order for dynamic images to show properly.
Dan