Hanging on ppReport create

shanbaum

I have an issue with a customer running Windows Server 2019, with Report Builder version 18.03b375 and Delphi XE10.2. Our application was inexplicably hanging for them when getting into certain functionality, and I've tracked it down to ppReport on a form. I've confirmed this by creating a new VCL project which has only the Form, and a ppReport component dropped on it. This program will not run on the customer's system - it never fully loads to present the form to the desktop, and remains in the Background Processes in the Task Manager, where it has to be task killed. It runs fine on other computers (there's really not much in there besides it getting created)

We aren't experiencing this with anyone else. But this customer is having this happen on two Windows Server 2019 machines. They have other clients that are not Server 2019 that aren't having this problem. Is there anything I can look into why this might be hanging on the creation of the ppReport?

For the test program that could replicate this problem, there's no separate code in the pas, and everything getting streamed in from the dfm is as follows:

object Form1: TForm1
Left = 0
Top = 0
Caption = 'Form1'
ClientHeight = 299
ClientWidth = 635
Color = clBtnFace
Font.Charset = DEFAULT_CHARSET
Font.Color = clWindowText
Font.Height = -11
Font.Name = 'Tahoma'
Font.Style = []
OldCreateOrder = False
PixelsPerInch = 96
TextHeight = 13
object ppReport1: TppReport
PrinterSetup.BinName = 'Default'
PrinterSetup.DocumentName = 'Report'
PrinterSetup.PaperName = 'Letter'
PrinterSetup.PrinterName = 'Default'
PrinterSetup.SaveDeviceSettings = False
PrinterSetup.mmMarginBottom = 6350
PrinterSetup.mmMarginLeft = 6350
PrinterSetup.mmMarginRight = 6350
PrinterSetup.mmMarginTop = 6350
PrinterSetup.mmPaperHeight = 279400
PrinterSetup.mmPaperWidth = 215900
PrinterSetup.PaperSize = 1
ArchiveFileName = '($MyDocuments)\ReportArchive.raf'
DeviceType = 'Screen'
DefaultFileDeviceType = 'PDF'
EmailSettings.ReportFormat = 'PDF'
LanguageID = 'Default'
OpenFile = False
OutlineSettings.CreateNode = True
OutlineSettings.CreatePageNodes = True
OutlineSettings.Enabled = True
OutlineSettings.Visible = True
ThumbnailSettings.Enabled = True
ThumbnailSettings.Visible = True
ThumbnailSettings.DeadSpace = 30
PDFSettings.EmbedFontOptions = [efUseSubset]
PDFSettings.EncryptSettings.AllowCopy = True
PDFSettings.EncryptSettings.AllowInteract = True
PDFSettings.EncryptSettings.AllowModify = True
PDFSettings.EncryptSettings.AllowPrint = True
PDFSettings.EncryptSettings.AllowExtract = True
PDFSettings.EncryptSettings.AllowAssemble = True
PDFSettings.EncryptSettings.AllowQualityPrint = True
PDFSettings.EncryptSettings.Enabled = False
PDFSettings.EncryptSettings.KeyLength = kl40Bit
PDFSettings.EncryptSettings.EncryptionType = etRC4
PDFSettings.FontEncoding = feAnsi
PDFSettings.ImageCompressionLevel = 25
RTFSettings.DefaultFont.Charset = DEFAULT_CHARSET
RTFSettings.DefaultFont.Color = clWindowText
RTFSettings.DefaultFont.Height = -13
RTFSettings.DefaultFont.Name = 'Arial'
RTFSettings.DefaultFont.Style = []
TextFileName = '($MyDocuments)\Report.pdf'
TextSearchSettings.DefaultString = ''
TextSearchSettings.Enabled = True
XLSSettings.AppName = 'ReportBuilder'
XLSSettings.Author = 'ReportBuilder'
XLSSettings.Subject = 'Report'
XLSSettings.Title = 'Report'
XLSSettings.WorksheetName = 'Report'
Left = 280
Top = 136
Version = '18.03'
mmColumnWidth = 0
end
end

nicocizik

Hi Stephen,

In my quick testing with the latest version of ReportBuilder, a simple application ran successfully in a new build of Windows Server 2019 (See screen shot).

1. I first suggest trying with the latest version of ReportBuilder (RB 21.03).

2. If you still get the problem, the application is likely being held up by virus or other security software.

frontline

We had a very similar problem a couple weeks ago on windows server.

Once we determined it was literally a basic application with a ppReport on it we passed it on to their tech company. Our program was working fine one day, and the next it was stalling.

They later confirmed that "the print spooler was locking up". Unfortunately we didn't get more details than that.

nicocizik

Previous versions of ReportBuilder used a Windows API call to retrieve the current printer that was dropped by newer versions of Windows Server. This could cause errors or on some occasion stalled the execution.

The solution is to use the latest version of ReportBuilder.

shanbaum

Hi Nico,
I've installed XE11.1 with RB 21.03.

I made another test program that is only a ppReport on a form, but the same problem occurs - the program never completes starting up to display the form on the desktop.

There doesn't appear to be any active antivirus (no third party, and the built-in Windows one is not active), and this system has only had our programs installed to it. I see the OS and version build do match what you have displayed there. What should I be looking for next? Thank you!

nicocizik

Hi Stephen,

I sent you an email with more information and things to try. I will post a solution here once one is found.

samlr

Hi,
Any update on this would be interesting. We currently have an active Powershell script wrapper detecting the seized task, killing it and re-running the' generate PDF file job'. This is the only way we can get it working so that it recovers and we don't have to intervene a few times daily. We retry 3 times before logging the job as failed, most work on repeat second or third time.