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SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe PDF-Based Print Forms

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Agenda
Abstract Disadvantages SmartForms/Adobe Print Forms MetaNet/InfoNet Transactions (HRFORMS/SFP) LiveCycle Designer
Fundamentals Workbench Accessibility Performance

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SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe PDF-Based Print Forms

Abstract

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Abstract SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe 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 based on SAP Interactive Forms Adobe LiveCycle Designer (WYSIWYG-Editor) can be used to create forms Transactions to access the LiveCycle Designer
HRFORMS HR Forms Workplace SFP Form Builder: Entry Point

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Abstract SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe Following forms can be created using the LiveCycle Designer 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.

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Abstract SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe 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 to generate the forms

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SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe PDF-Based Print Forms

Disadvantages SmartForms/Adobe PrintForms

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Disadvantages 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 using JavaScript or FormCalc ADS needs to be installed on sophisticated hardware
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Disadvantages SmartForms Accessibility SmartForms are not barrier-free, they can`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 be loaded from an application server Text can not be rotated Forms can not be signed digitally PDF preview within the form is not available
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Architecture SmartForms

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Architecture PDF-Based Print Forms

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SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe PDF-Based Print Forms

MetaNet/InfoNet

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MetaNet/InfoNet MetaNet can be accessed using the HR Metadata Workplace (Transaction: HRFORMS_METADATA) The MetaNet provides the data which can be used/read in the created form The data is organized/described within fields, structs, tables All required data are defined in Metadata Workplace and contained in the MetaNet MetaNet can be specified for different countries

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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 is organized by using a InfoNet The InfoNet is a part of the data contained in the MetaNet data can be added to the InfoNet due Transaction HRFORMS

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MetaNet/InfoNet

MetaNet and InfoNet (HRFORMS)


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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 within MetaStars

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MetaNet/InfoNet MetaDimensions: Exists of MetaFields which either perform as a key or a attribut of a MetaDimension MetaStars: Exists of MetaDimensions and MetaFigures

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MetaNet/InfoNet adding field of infotype Description: In this case the field of payee (Infotype 0009) 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

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MetaNet/InfoNet adding field of infotype 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)

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MetaNet/InfoNet adding field of infotype 08. Field EMFTX has to be changed to Key Field

09. Create a new MetaStar 10. Fill in the required Fields

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MetaNet/InfoNet adding field of infotype 11. Add the following information in the required fields:

12. Add the MetaDimension via drag and drop to the MetaStar. The result looks like:

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MetaNet/InfoNet adding field of infotype 13. Select the MetaStar add the field which has to be read: and

Finally the MetaStar has to be added to the MetaNet via drag and drop and MetaNet has to be saved
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SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe PDF-Based Print Forms

Transactions (HRFORMS/SFP)

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Transactions (HRFORMS/SFP) Opening a Form with HRFORMS leads to the following Screen:

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Transactions (HRFORMS/SFP) Opening a Form with SFP leads to the following Screen:

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Transactions (HRFORMS/SFP) The entry screen of Transaction SFP is the same screen as the next screen of Transaction HRFORMS using the -Button From here, the following areas can be accessed: Properties: Gives access to the Interface where custom code can be added manually Context: Shows the imported data and the data which is available to be used within the form Layout: Opens the LiveCycle Designer
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Transactions (HRFORMS/SFP) The Context allows you to add the following amongst other things: Where Conditions

Conditions

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SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe PDF-Based Print Forms

Adobe LiveCycle Designer

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Fundamentals LiveCycle Designer It is available as an application of its own as well as an 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


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Fundamentals - XML XML = Extensible Markup Language Standard for the modelling of structured data in a tree structure Tags for the description of the data structure can be self-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 edited manually

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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Workbench

Script Editor

Hierarchy PDF Structure Data View

Object Library Layout-Editor

Object Properties

Warnings / Binding / Log


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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Object Library


Contains all the objects which can be implemented in the Form

Most useful Objects for PDF-Based Print Forms:


Text Field Text Table Subform Content Area

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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Object / Field


The Type shows which Object is used The Caption contains the name which is shown on the Form With Appearance the style of the value within a Text Field can be set With Presence can be defined if the object is only visible on the screen, only on print Form or on both With Patterns the format can be set in which the values are displayed

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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Object / Binding


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

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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Layout


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

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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 useful commands which usually can be accessed via different menues

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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Hierarchy


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, the Hierarchy 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)

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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Data View


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
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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Font/Paragraph


For the configuration of a Text Field it is 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 only the Caption or only the Value. The part which has to be formated must be selected in each of the windows

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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Workbench


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

INFO: It is a very convenient way to organize objects within a Subform or to delete a Subform, Insert a New Master Page, etc.

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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Accessibility Text which has to be read by the screenreader can be defined
Therefor a tagged PDF form has to be created (saving the form design as a PDF file)

The default behaviour in LiveCycle Designer is the creation of tagged PDF forms The applied tagging for accessibility increases the file size, thereby the performance gets reduced the form objects should be chosen very carefully

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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 these fields under Accessibility, the screen reader will read the Caption of an object If the setting is Name, the screen reader will read the technical name shown in the Hierarchy Palette With None the screen reader will not read anything INFO: Use only standard objects and don`t hide any Caption which should be read in the form
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Adobe LiveCycle Designer Accessibility Related information should be combined by using subforms The form layout should be kept in mind by defining the order of the elements (left to right, top to bottom) Try to avoid problems by using default colors for text and background It is not possible for screen readers to read texts highlighted by s p a c i n g between individual letters Only use simple tables instead of complex tables

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Performance 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 very carefully Avoiding interacitve form features such as validation constructs for non-interactive forms

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Performance ADS Adobe Document Services (ADS):


It could be the bottlneck of the entire system considering the output of Adobe forms Therefor it should be setup on a hardware of it`s own

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)
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Thank you for your attention

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