Saturday, December 30, 2017

Making FRx work with unsupported versions of Dynamics

FRX opening screen
I know, I know, we should all be using Management Reporter. News flash! Not everybody wanted to change if I could get FRx to print the reports with their new GP versions. Let’s face it, getting that software installed and getting all of your FRx reports migrated is an expense many people would rather not incur. The secret to getting it up and operational is to find the compatible GPConn.dll you need to make it work. That file, by the way, is located in the following folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Dexterity\GPConn.dll
The trick is getting the right version of the GPConn.dll. I’ve read that you can run the C:\Program Files (x86)\FRx Software\FRx 6.7\FRxReg67.cmd file and it will create the correct GPConn.dll file. While it does create and register the files, it has not always been the file that has worked for me. It’s certainly worth a try, because it has worked now and again. Another discovery I made the other day is that two workstations running the same operating system needed different GPConn.dll to coax FRx to work.
I’ve collected several different versions of the GPConn.dll file and have posted them to my Box account along with a full install of FRx with SP 9. You'll also find SP12 of FRx available there. If you’re looking for an older version, give one of these files a try. You can access them HERE. Try running the FRxReg67.cmd first, but if that doesn’t work, give these others a try.
The combination that worked on my machine, which is running Windows 10 Pro and GP 2016 R2 build 0641 is this:
  • OS: Windows 10 Pro version 1709, Build 16299.371
  • SQL Driver: SQL Server (not any of the Native Clients)
  • GPConn.dll: version date 04/06/2006 (143 kb)
  • 32-bit ODBC using SQL Native Client 10
Other combinations may very well work and I ask you to please comment and let us know which combinations worked for you.
If you are getting the error 'The current version of the application could not be determined. The setup will now terminate'  You need to go to Control Panel's Programs and Features applet and then, in the upper left-hand corner select Turn Windows Features on or Off and turn on .Net 2.0, which also enables .Net 3.0. I also installed the Prerequisite named 'Microsoft Data Access', but I don't think that was the key to getting it to work.

Live the dream!
Leslie