Creating Screens 

You can create a screen from the Screen Painter initial screen or from the Repository Browser. You create screens from the initial screen of the Screen Painter as follows:

  1. Start the Screen Painter.
  2. Enter a program name.

    3. The program you specify should be an executable program (type 1), a module pool (type M), or a function group (type F) and must already exist.

  3. Enter a screen number.

    4. A screen number must be unique and up to 4 numbers long. All screen numbers above 9000 are reserved for SAP's customers. The number 1000 is reserved for table screens and report selection screens. Initial screens of transactions are often given a number whose last three digits are 100 (for example, 3100).

    To display a list of a program's screens, use the possible entries button.

  4. Choose Create.

    5. The system displays the Change Screen Attributes screen.

  5. Define the screen attributes.

    6. For a description of each attribute, see Screen Attributes below.

  6. Choose Save.

Screen Attributes

Screen attributes enable the system to assign and process a screen. You can set the following screen attributes:

Attribute

Description

program

Name of the module pool to which the screen belongs.

Screen number

Identifies a unique name up to 4 numbers long.

Original Language

Identifies a screen's maintenance language. When you create a screen, the system sets this value to the module pool's maintenance language.

Short description

Describes a screen's purpose.

Development class

Identifies the development class the screen belongs to.

Last changed and Last generated

Date and time when the screen was last changed or generated.

Normal

Standard screen type

Selection screen

Identifies an automatically created screen. Selection screens request values for database selection criteria before a report is started. The system sets this attribute automatically.

Modal dialog box

Identifies a specialized interface for display of lists in a dialog box. See Using Modal Dialog Boxes for more information.

Subscreen

Identifies a sub-window in a window.

Next screen

Specifies the screen that is displayed after this screen in the course of the transaction.

Cursor position

Identifies the screen element that contains the cursor when a screen is first displayed. If you leave this field blank, the system uses the first screen field that can accept input.

Screen group

Specifies a four-character identifier of a group of associated screens.

Lines/columns Used

Specifies the size of the screen area currently occupied with screen elements.

Lines/columns Maint.

Specifies a screen's size. Screen size is measured in characters from a screen's top left corner.

Hold data

Set this field to retain data entered by a user. The system automatically displays this data if the user returns to this screen.

Fixed font

Displays output fields in fixed font instead of the standard text output in proportional font. This attribute applies to the whole screen. It is more comprehensive than the Fixed attribute that you can set for a screen element.

Note: The ergonomic guidelines state that you should not set this flag, since fixed fonts are more difficult to read.

Switch off runtime compression

Specifies that a screen is compressed at runtime.

Note: The ergonomic guidelines state that you should not set this flag, since gaps then appear when fields are hidden. Users then take longer to process the screen.