Uninstalling Crystal 2008 SP1 merge module disables Crystal 2008 Designer

Question

Hi,
I've come across a problem when uninstalling an application that includes the Crystal 2008 SP1 merge module, where Crystal Reports 2008 SP1 Developer is also installed on the machine.
The uninstallation of an application containing this merge module will trigger the uninstall code in the merge module - I would have expected this module to take into account shared files and decrement the SharedDlls registry count for relevant .dlls etc, so that files still used by other applications are not affected or uninstalled.
However it stops Crystal 2008 SP1 Developer from working, no message is displayed when attempting to launch the application (apart from in the Event Log), but following some investigation it appears a number of files and folders are removed by the merge module that shouldn't be, as follows:
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86\boezlib.dll
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86\uf12manager.dll
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\4.0\crystalreportviewers12\js\crviewer\images\
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\4.0\crystalreportviewers12\js\dhtmllib\images\
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\4.0\crystalreportviewers12\js\dhtmllib\samples\
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\4.0\crystalreportviewers12\js\dhtmllib\validator\
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\4.0\crystalreportviewers12\js\log4javascript\
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\4.0\crystalreportviewers12\js\MochiKit\
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\Common\4.0\crystalreportviewers12\prompting\
There could be others, but these are the files / folders I've identified so far, and restoring these files / folders appears to get Crystal Developer up and running and able to run reports.
Does anybody know how to prevent this, or if this is a known issue and planned to be addressed in a future release of the merge modules?

Answer 1

Hi,
Thanks for your feedback Henry.
I've downloaded the SP1 patch for Crystal Reports Designer, this appears to be the same one I already have installed, dated 28/09/08.  The problem is the current merge module for the SP1 runtime incorrectly removes some of the .dll's required by SP1 Designer if the merge module is subsequently installed / uninstalled with a third-party application from an ISV.  These .dll's should have been marked as Shared by the SP1 Designer patch install but have not, including the .dll's specific to SP1 (boezlib and uf12manager) along with a host of files in the Common\4.0\crystalreportviewers12 folders.
I've tested around this area a few weeks ago and noticed that if the Shared reference count for these files in the registry is created before the SP1 merge module is installed / uninstalled (as it should have been by the SP1 Designer install) then the MM works correctly.  That is the reference count is increased when the MM is installed, decreased when MM is uninstalled but still remains > 0 and so these shared files are not removed.  This leaves the Crystal Reports SP1 Designer intact and working.
I'll await the new install for SP1 Designer and give this a try in conjunction with the SP1 merge module install / uninstall.
Also I've noticed the documentation you referred me to mentions the SP1 Runtime MSI will be refreshed to detect imcompatible software (to stop this corrupting an SP0 Designer install), but does not mention that the SP1 merge module will also be refreshed.  If the SP1 merge module is not refreshed, do you know if there will there be some documentation available for ISV's as to how to reliably detect any incompatible software on a target machine?  This will enable ISV's using the SP1 merge module to embed the same checks as used in your installations to prevent this corrupting any software on the target machine that is incompatible with the SP1 runtime.
Many thanks,
Peter.