To ease printing woes, SAP introduced a new tool called Smart Forms. Introduced with SAP R/3 4.6C, it is fully integrated with SAP core applications, such as HR and mySAP ERP. It also supports Web applications, which is a key area of expansion for most companies. Smart Forms may be used with interactive Web forms that are based on generated XML output XSF, Basis Release 4.6C; HTML+XSF, and SAP Web Application Server (Web AS) 6.10. Smart Forms is standard for various central business processes (starting with CRM 2.0, SD, FI, and HR 4.6C). The documentation for Smart Forms, however, is scattered; there is no easy way to learn what it entails and how to use it. The conversion process is completely undocumented. I'll walk you through some of the tools available to help you migrate from SAPscript to Smart Forms and teach you how to develop Smart Forms from scratch. Though implementation time can be substantially decreased with the standard, predefined forms Smart Forms provides, developing your own might be necessary to meet unique needs.

What Can I Expect from Smart Forms?

Smart Forms (transaction SMARTFORMS) includes a standard component known as Smart Styles (transaction SMARTSTYLES). Smart Styles allow you to define the paragraph and character attributes at the format level, similarly to a template. Texts and fields are assigned to these paragraphs and characters in the Smart Forms. You specify the style in the output options of the form attributes. All Smart Forms have their own Smart Style, and when converting a Smart Form, you must convert the Smart Style as well.

Features of Smart Forms include:

1. Smart Forms contain enhanced form-development tools (drag-and-drop, multiple tables, background images, interactive Webforms, etc). Multiple-page formats are possible in Smart Forms, which is not the case with SAPscripts. This allows you to create different design formats for each page. 2. Smart Forms has an easy-to-use, graphical user interface. No programming skills are required. 3. Smart Forms generates a function module when activated, doing away with the need to write code. In SAPscript, you must create a program separately, code it, and then assign the SAPscript and program to the output types. The code is delivered in terms of standard data extraction, but any customer-specific logic needs to be coded additionally. 4. Smart Forms features interactive Web forms based on generated XML output. You can download Smart Forms onto local PCs in XML format. Conversely, you may also upload the XML format into Smart Forms, making it easy to maintain, with no migration needed. You can download it as an .xml file and upload it for reuse where needed, which isn't possible with SAPscript. 5. In addition to using the printer for standard output, you can also select the Internet (by using a generated HTML output), fax, PDF, or email as the output medium without the additional coding that SAPscript requires. 6. The migration of SAPscript forms to Smart Forms is supported. Data retrieval using Smart Forms is done by the traditional model, which is to extract the data from the database through the application program. The form logic is built through the generated ABAP function module. Output may be Web browser content, printed documents, email attachments, or fax. Form Builder provides a navigation tree for building the form. Select the node and you can select the attributes for the selected node (for example, position and size). The node may be painted using Form Painter on the right side of the main window, as shown in Figure 1. The Form Painter tool bar helps you paint the selected window. Size the boxes as images within the window using the ruler at the top. Use the window to add text or graphics. Create personal settings for ease of use by zooming or by using a grid or ruler. You can choose from the available text types. Text elements are local to each form. Create text modules for reusability. You may also include SAPscript texts and then drag and drop these texts into the selected node or window (Figure 2). Once the form is built, you can run a list of error messages by navigating to the corresponding node. For example, you may check if a field exists, test warnings for fields that have no values, and see whether Smart Forms have been activated.

Migration to Smart Forms

If you have many forms already built in SAPscript, you may migrate them into Smart Forms to avoid building the Smart Forms from scratch and save development time. Two types of migration are available: individual migration and mass migration. You can migrate a SAPscript form into a Smart Form and convert a SAPscript style into a Smart Style. Smart Styles contain the formatting information for the text. In Smart Style, you take the smaller components (paragraph and character formats) for conversion individually, whereas for Smart Forms, you take the entire Smart Form for conversion. Each conversion of a Smart Form requires a separate conversion of the accompanying Smart Style; some of the steps, however, are the same. The first phase of the migration is the download. Use program RSTXSCRP to download SAPscripts to your local hard disk (Figure 3). Simply select the object, based on Form, Style, Standard Text, or Device Type. You may EXPORT to download to the local drive and IMPORT to upload a SAPscript into the system. You can also specify file selection from your desktop or from a server.   When migrating a SAPscript form into a Smart Form or Smart Style, the system executes the following steps: 1. Copies the language attributes and the output options 2. Migrates the layout information including pages and windows, as well as their attributes and positions on the page 3. Copies the texts in the form 4. Displays the fields (SAPscript notation: program symbols) in the texts 5. Converts the SAPscript commands (such as NEW-PAGE or IF...ENDIF) to comment lines and displays them in the texts Repeat the above steps for the Smart Style accompanying the form.

Smart Form Conversion

The second phase of migration is conversion. Though the download phase (step 1) is the same, conversion for Smart Styles must be done differently than conversion for Smart Forms. I explain steps for Smart Styles later. For converting forms, you have a template that you can enhance and modify according to your needs. Adapt the form logic by specifying the commands that the system converted to comment lines. The work involved is similar to any form development; each element, window, page, text, logo spacing, and data mapping has to be validated, but the conversion tool makes it easier. Follow these steps for SAPscript form conversion: Step 1. Access the initial screen. Choose Tools>Forms printout>Smart Forms (transaction SMARTFORMS) from the SAP Easy Access Menu. The dialog window SAP Smart Forms: Initial Screen appears. Step 2. Name the form. In the Form Field, enter field name you want to give, for example ZTF_GR_## (based on your company standard starting with Z to identify this as a customized form, where "##" is the group number). Step 3. Access the migrate function. Go to Utilities>Migrate SAPscript Form. In the dialogue window enter the SAPscript form name, for example Y_SAPSCRIPT_STD. Choose the Check button. Step 4. View the migrated layout. On the screen that appears, the SAPscript form is migrated into a rough Smart Form (see Figure 4). Click on Form Painter to see an overview of the form layout. Use the following steps for mass migration or simultaneous migration of multiple SAPscript forms: Step 1. Run the mass migration program. In Reporting (transaction SE38), select the program SF_MIGRATE and execute it (see Figure 5). Select the names and the language of the SAPscript forms and click the execute icon. The system creates the Smart Forms named for the SAPscript forms plus the extension SF. It displays a list of the migrated forms. Step 2. Make changes (if necessary). To change and adapt a form, go to transaction SMARTFORMS. Then activate the changed Smart Form.

Smart Style Conversion

The following are the unique conversion steps for Smart Styles. Note that mass migration is not possible, as each Smart Style is attached to a specific Smart Form and conversion must be done individually. For migrating a SAPscript style into Smart Styles, the steps are: Step 1. Open Smart Styles. Go to the Smart Styles initial screen (transaction SMARTSTYLES; see Figure 6). Step 2. Name the style. In the Style field, enter the name of the Smart Style you want to create. Step 3. Run the program. Choose Smart Styles Convert SAPscript style. Enter the name of the SAPscript style you want to convert. Press Enter. A list of the converted styles appears. Step 4. Make adjustments to the style (if necessary). Choose Back. You can now change the Smart Style (using Change). To activate the Smart Style, choose Activate.

Other Processes

Once the SAPscripts are converted, whether in Smart Forms or Smart Styles, you should clean up any errors made during the conversion process, in terms of attributes, window alignment, or syntax errors. Cleaning up errors during conversion is often standard procedure, as SAPscript might have used local logic. Errors may occur when a field displayed is extracted or manipulated to display and doesn't exist, or fields exist but appear with no values. Errors may also arise in ABAP syntax. Step 1. Define the Import Parameter. Double-click on the Global Settings> Form Interface from the navigation menu (Figure 7). Step 2. On the Import Tab, enter the import structure information. For example, enter Parameter Name (table name, such as LIKP), Type Assignment: Type, Reference Type (table name), Optional (or Mandatory); Pass Val: (Passing value indicator). This must be done for all the data retrieved from the SAP tables. Step 3. Remove irrelevant or unnecessary windows. To delete a navigational menu node, right-click on the node, and select Delete. Since you start with windows in SAPscript, there might be redundant windows created for text. Step 4. Set the first page. Delete the NEXT page node on the menu tree. Double-click on the first page node. In the General Attributes tab, change the Next Page value to FIRST. Step 5. Delete the DETAIL frame window. Expand the MAIN window and delete all its text nodes. Step 6. Adjust the text nodes. Click on the text nodes and let the system fit the text. Step 7. Save and check the syntax.

Modification

Smart Forms allows you to customize the newly migrated forms and styles, adding images, headers, templates, and standard text. To insert the company logo (or any image): Step 1. Open the Form Painter for graphics (Figure 8). Select the Form Painter button. Click the LOGO window in Form Painter. Right-click and choose Create>Graphics. Step 2. Insert the logo or image. In the maintenance screen of the node (the center of the frame) under the General attributes tab, enter the company logo or other image as Graphic Image, Graphics as Object type, and bmap as ID. Choose the grid screen color and press Enter. You can position the logo as you wish. To import standard text for addresses and other purposes: Step 1. Access the text creation tool (Figure 9). In the navigation menu tree, click on the INFO1 window node. Right-click and select Create>Text. Step 2. Prepare the new text node. On your new text node under INFO1, in the Maintenance frame, on the General Attributes node, change the Text Type to Include text. Select OK on the popup menu. Step 3. Set the text attributes. Under Text Name, enter the name of the form. For Text Object, enter text. For Text ID, enter ST. For Language, enter WN. Check the checkbox for No error when no text exists. To create a template for your header and line items: Step 1. Insert the company logo (or any image). Right-click on the MAIN window node and select Template (Figure 10). Step 2. Click on your new Template node. The attributes associated with your new template will appear. Step 3. In the tab labeled Template, enter the following: 1. In the column Name, enter Line1. This will be the first row in your template. 2. Click on the Table Painter button. Click on the Pattern button and select the pattern on the upper left hand side of the pop-up window.

Activation

Step 1. Save and activate your form. Select Activate (Figure 11). Step 2. Test your form. Click on the Test button or press the F8 key. Step 3. Execute. When the Function Module screen comes up, click on the Execute button or press the F8 key again. Step 4. Preview the document. On the Print pop-up menu, click on the Print Preview button. Your new form will appear. Step 5. Return to Form Builder. Close the print preview and press the Back key until you return to the Smart Form Builder screen.