SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe PDF Based Print Forms

Copyright 2011 Accenture All Rights Reserved. 1Copyright 2011 Accenture All Rights Reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.

SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe PDF-Based Print Forms

Copyright 2011 Accenture All Rights Reserved. 2

Agenda

Abstract

DisadvantagesSmartForms/Adobe Print Forms

MetaNet/InfoNet

Transactions (HRFORMS/SFP)

LiveCycle Designer

Fundamentals

Workbench

Accessibility

Performance

Copyright 2011 Accenture All Rights Reserved.

Abstract



SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe became available with the Releases SAP ERP HCM 6.0 and SAP

Netweaver 7.0

Future development in the area of forms will be basedon SAP Interactive Forms

Adobe LiveCycle Designer (WYSIWYG-Editor) can beused to create forms

Transactions to access the LiveCycle Designer

HRFORMS HR Forms Workplace

SFP Form Builder: Entry Point

Abstract SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe


Following forms can be created using the LiveCycleDesigner

Interactive Forms:

The contained fields are ready for input. Users

can fill in the fields on the computer.

Print Forms:

The contained fields can not be edited. The

information in the form can be accessed

dynamically, e. g. Payslip.



Within HRForms you can open and edit Adobe Forms as well as SmartForms

Accessibility by creating a PDF-Based Form, Adobe creates tags within the form which can be recognized

by a screenreader

Required Interface, ABAP Dictionary Structure as well as Print program will be created automatically by

activating the form

ADS Adobe Document Services are required togenerate the forms



Disadvantages

SmartForms/Adobe PrintForms



The Adobe LiveCycle Designer

o Is a Windows application which is embedded in

SAP

o Takes a couple of seconds to get started

o Has to be installed seperately

o Data-Dictionary-Objects can not be shown

due to double-click in SE11

A Java-Stack has to be installed and configurated

Complex code has to be implemented usingJavaScript or FormCalc

ADS needs to be installed on sophisticated hardware

Disadvantages Adobe PrintForms


Accessibility SmartForms are not barrier-free, theycan`t be read with a screenreader

SmartForms are also supported in the near future but the main part of future developments are based on

Adobe

PDF-fields can not configured to be ready for input

Graphics can not be embedded, they have to beloaded from an application server

Text can not be rotated

Forms can not be signed digitally

PDF preview within the form is not available

Disadvantages SmartForms


Architecture SmartForms


Architecture PDF-Based Print Forms



MetaNet/InfoNet


MetaNet can be accessed using the HR MetadataWorkplace (Transaction: HRFORMS_METADATA)

The MetaNet provides the data which can beused/read in the created form

The data is organized/described within fields, structs, tables

All required data are defined in Metadata Workplaceand contained in the MetaNet

MetaNet can be specified for different countries

MetaNet/InfoNet


Custom structs or data can be added to the MetaNet useful by using custom Infotypes and/or tables

The specific data which is used within a form isorganized by using a InfoNet

The InfoNet is a part of the data contained in theMetaNet data can be added to the InfoNet due Transaction HRFORMS

MetaNet/InfoNet


MetaNet/InfoNet

MetaNet and InfoNet (HRFORMS)


MetaNet/InfoNet

MetaNet is based on

MetaFields

MetaFigures

MetaDimensions

MetaStars

MetaFields: Perform either as keys or attributes of a MetaDimension

MetaFigures: Are indicators which are used withinMetaStars


MetaNet/InfoNet

MetaDimensions: Exists of MetaFields which eitherperform as a key or a attribut of a MetaDimension

MetaStars: Exists of MetaDimensions andMetaFigures


MetaNet/InfoNet adding field of infotype

Description: In this case the field of payee (Infotype0009) will be added to the MetaNet

01. Transaction: HRFORMS_METADATA

02. Create a copy of the SAP_DEFAULT MetaNet

03. Create a new MetaDimension

04. Fill in the required Fields

05. Right click on Create Field



06. Fill in the required Fields (EMFTX is the Field Name

shown in the Technical Information)

07. Add Field Type to MetaField (MetaDimension

has to be marked first)



08. Field EMFTX has to be changed to Key Field

09. Create a new MetaStar

10. Fill in the required Fields



11. Add the following information in the required fields:

12. Add the MetaDimension via

drag and drop to the MetaStar. The result looks like:



13. Select the MetaStar and

add the field which has to be read:

Finally the MetaStar has to be added to the MetaNetvia drag and drop and MetaNet has to be saved


Opening a Form with HRFORMS leads to thefollowing Screen:



Opening a Form with SFP leads to the followingScreen:



The entry screen of Transaction SFP is the same screen as the next screen of Transaction HRFORMSusing the -Button

From here, the following areas can be accessed:

Properties: Gives access to the Interface wherecustom code can be added manually

Context: Shows the imported data and the datawhich is available to be used within theform

Layout: Opens the LiveCycle Designer



The Context allows you to add the following amongstother things:

Where Conditions

Conditions



Adobe LiveCycle Designer



It is available as an application of its own as well asan application embedded in SAP GUI

First Version 6.0 was released in 2004

Graphical WYSIWYG Tool

The generated forms are based on XFA (XML Forms Architecture)

Available scripting languages

JavaScript

PostScript

Dynamic detection of data

Fundamentals LiveCycle Designer


XML = Extensible Markup Language

Standard for the modelling of structured data in a treestructure

Tags for the description of the data structure can beself-defined

An XML scheme (also known as: Document Type Definition, DTD) describes the elements within an

XML-Dokument formally

XML within LiveCycle Designer should not be editedmanually

Fundamentals - XML


Adobe LiveCycle Designer Workbench

HierarchyPDF Structure

Data View

Layout-Editor

ObjectLibrary

ObjectProperties

Warnings / Binding / Log

Script Editor


Contains all the objects which can beimplemented in the Form

Most useful Objects for PDF-BasedPrint Forms:

Text Field

Text

Table

Subform

Content Area

Adobe LiveCycle Designer Object Library


The Type shows which Object isused

The Caption contains the namewhich is shown on the Form

With Appearance the style of thevalue within a Text Field can be set

With Presence can be defined if theobject is only visible on the screen,

only on print Form or on both

With Patterns the format can be setin which the values are displayed

Adobe LiveCycle Designer Object / Field


Binding contains the data which is

shown on the form. It is the

connection via the Context to the

InfoNet MetaNet

Binding can also be set to

None or

Global Connects a single

value with all objects in the same

namespace

Adobe LiveCycle Designer Object / Binding


The Size & Position for all Objects can be configured

Escpecially for Text Fields useful, the Position of the Caption can be

set:

Left

Right

Top

Bottom

None

Adobe LiveCycle Designer Layout


INFO: Using the menue bar

it gives access to a menue

which is shown as soon as an object

gets marked

It is possible to change the type of a field quickly

It also gives access to a sum of usefulcommands which usually can be

accessed via different menues

Adobe LiveCycle Designer Layout


The Hierarchy gives Information about the relationships of the

objects. E.g. OrgDaten is a Subform containing five objects. If

it`s necessary to hide these five

objects in a specific case

(dynamically using JavaScript), the

code has to be entered only once

(on the level of the Subform)

INFO: By creating a form, theHierarchy is very important for the

logic in which the objects are related

to each other as well as for the

understanding of the logic to a third

person (like comment in a code)

Adobe LiveCycle Designer Hierarchy


The Data View shows all the

Information containing in the Context

(Context is a subset of the InfoNet).

In this view, only the active data in

the Context is available within the

form

The arrow shows that the data is

used in the form

INFO: In the end when the form is

finished all the unused data can be

deactivated in the Context. Due to

inactivation the data which has to be

sent to the Adobe Document Server

gets reduced and therefor the

performance improves

Adobe LiveCycle Designer Data View


Adobe LiveCycle Designer Font/Paragraph

For the configuration of a Text Field itis important to configure the Caption

as well as the Value of the data. This

can be done by opening Palettes in

the menue bar and then open one of

the following:

INFO: It is also possible to edit onlythe Caption or only the Value. The

part which has to be formated must

be selected in each of the windows


This small Button is available in almost every area of the workbench

INFO: It is a very convenient way toorganize objects within a Subform or

to delete a Subform, Insert a New

Master Page, etc.

Adobe LiveCycle Designer Workbench


Text which has to be read by the screenreader can bedefined

Therefor a tagged PDF form has to be created(saving the form design as a PDF file)

The default behaviour in LiveCycle Designer is thecreation of tagged PDF forms

The applied tagging for accessibility increases the filesize, thereby the performance gets reduced theform objects should be chosen very carefully

Adobe LiveCycle Designer Accessibility



Any text that entered in the field Tool Tip will be read by a screen reader

Custom Screen Reader Text is an alternative to Tool Tip for Print forms

If there is no text in any of thesefields under Accessibility, the screen

reader will read the Caption of an

object

If the setting is Name, the screenreader will read the technical name

shown in the Hierarchy Palette

With None the screen reader will not read anything

INFO: Use only standard objects anddon`t hide any Caption which should

be read in the form


Related information should be combined by usingsubforms

The form layout should be kept in mind by definingthe order of the elements (left to right, top to bottom)

Try to avoid problems by using default colors for textand background

It is not possible for screen readers to read textshighlighted by s p a c i n g between individual letters

Only use simple tables instead of complex tables



Fonts:

Try to keep the number of fonts to a minimum

Reducing the file size by:

Using embedded images instead of linked images

Avoiding to use 24-bit color formats

Keeping objects as simple as possible

Choosing applied tagging for accessibility verycarefully

Avoiding interacitve form features such as validationconstructs for non-interactive forms

Performance


Adobe Document Services (ADS):

It could be the bottlneck of the entire systemconsidering the output of Adobe forms

Therefor it should be setup on a hardware of it`sown

INFO: ADS performs two tasks and is the runtime

component of the solution:

Generating of the output format within the SAP System (PDF Form or printer language)

Extracting of the users input from PDF Form (interactive scenario)

Performance ADS


Thank you for your attention

Documents

SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe PDF Based Print Forms