Crystal Report Versioner – Diff, Archive, and Revert SAP Crystal Reports (.rpt) on Windows

A lightweight Windows WPF tool for versioning SAP Crystal Reports. Compare and archive changes to .rpt files, generate human-readable diffs, and safely revert to previous versions. Built for .NET Framework4.8.

• Works offline on local .rpt files
• Creates timestamped archives with HTML reports and metadata
• Optional deep analysis when the SAP Crystal Reports runtime is available

Table of contents

• Why this tool
• Features
• Requirements and prerequisites
• Install / Build
• Quick start
• What gets generated
• Troubleshooting / FAQ

Why this tool

Crystal Reports often live on file shares without proper version control. This app gives you a fast, GUI-based workflow to diff two report versions, archive the result, and revert when needed—without introducing a full VCS or scripting.

Features

• Push Changes (archive + replace):
• Diffs Original vs Changed .rpt
• Saves version under archive/<reportName>/vyyyyMMdd-HHmmss/
• Generates changes.html (summary) and metadata.json
• Produces a zip artifact and replaces the Original with the Changed file
• Cleans up duplicate Changed files if both were in the same folder
• Revert to Last Change: restore the previously archived Original
• Master changelog per report: ChangeLog-<reportName>.html with links to zips
• Optional Crystal-level analysis (when SAP runtime present):
• Record Selection Formula
• Formula fields / Parameter fields
• Table list changes
• Dark, minimal WPF UI for Windows

Requirements and prerequisites

• Windows with .NET Framework4.8
• Optional: SAP Crystal Reports runtime (CRRuntime_64bit_13_0_xx) to enable deep Crystal analysis. Without it, the app still performs binary diffs and archiving.

Install / Build

• Build from source:
• Open the solution in Visual Studio2019/2022 (with .NET Framework4.8 targeting pack)
• Restore dependencies and Build
• Run the ironmanx-04-2 WPF app
• Runtime branding icon is included; the app window and exe show the same icon.

Quick start

1. Select Original .rpt and Changed .rpt
2. Pick Archive root (defaults to <original directory>\archive)
3. Enter a message (optional)
4. Click Push Changes
5. To undo: select the Original path and click Revert to Last Change

What gets generated

Per push:

• Zip: <archive root>/<reportName>/<reportName>-<timestamp>.zip
• Version folder (pre-zip): v<timestamp>/ containing:
• changes.html (diff summary)
• metadata.json (file hashes, sizes, diff stats, analysis mode)
• Master changelog updated at <archive root>/<reportName>/ChangeLog-<reportName>.html

Troubleshooting / FAQ

• Q: No SAP Crystal runtime installed

• A: The app still works; Crystal-level analysis is skipped. Binary diff and archive are produced.

• Q: Can't find or load the window icon

• A: The icon is copied to the output resources/ and set at runtime. Ensure resources/icon.ico exists in the project.

• Q: Where can I see the app version?

• A: The version is shown in the footer (status bar) as v<version> for easy screenshots when reporting issues.

• Q: What's inside the Release .zip download?

• A: The GitHub Releases .zip contains the compiled Windows binaries targeting .NET Framework4.8. For Crystal-level analysis, the SAP Crystal Reports runtime (CRRuntime_64bit_13_0_xx) is required and is not bundled due to licensing. The app still produces binary-level diffs and archives without the runtime. Some builds may include CrystalDecisions.* dependencies to support viewing/interop, but these do not replace the official runtime.