Node Types: Overview

Use

When you create a Smart Form, the tree structure of the Form Painter already contains two root nodes:

You use the inferior nodes of the Global Settings node to maintain Form Attributes, the Form Interface, and Global Definitions.
You use the inferior nodes of the Pages and Windows node to create the pages of your form, position elements on these pages, and determine the sequence in which you want to process these elements.

Except for the two root nodes, each node has attributes. You can maintain these attributes on tab pages on the right half of the screen. The attributes you can maintain on the tab pages General Attributes, Output Options, and Conditions are the same for most of the node types (see: Shared Attributes of the Node Types).

Note

For information on how to create nodes, see Navigation Tree.

Inferior Nodes of Node Pages and Windows

As directly inferior nodes to root node Pages and Windows you can create only page nodes. The tables below describe these page nodes and the other inferior nodes:

Output Areas

Icon

Node Type

Meaning

Possible Direct Subnodes

Page

A page of the form. Directly inferior nodes of this node can be placed directly on the page.

Window, graphic, address

Window

Output area on a page. There are these window types:

All except window and page nodes

Elementary Nodes (Without Inferior Nodes)

Icon	Node Type	Meaning
	Text	You use this node to print any texts (and table contents), except addresses.
	Graphics	You use this node to position graphics in the form. To include background graphics, use node type `Page`.
	Address	You use this node to include an address. The system reads the address data directly from the database tables and formats it for print output.

Table Outputs

Icon	Node Type	Meaning	Possible Direct Subnodes
	Template	You use this node to print a table with fixed layout	All except window, page, table, and template nodes
	Table	You use this node to print a table with dynamic layout	Directly inferior nodes are automatically the three nodes `Header`, `Main Area`, and `Footer`. As their directly inferior nodes, loop nodes, folder nodes, or table nodes are allowed.
	Table Line	You use this node to print a table line in a table or template	Table cell
	Table cell	You use this node to print a table cell of a table line according to the line type	As with the template node
	Old table node	These tables are still contained in forms created before Release 6.10. You can modify them but not create new ones.	As with the template node

Flow Control

Icon	Node Type	Meaning	Possible Direct Subnodes
	Commands	You use this node to execute special commands (next page, paragraph numbering, printer control)	(no inferior nodes)
	Loop	You use this node to process inferior nodes repeatedly.	All except window and page nodes
	Alternative	You use this node to branch depending on a condition.	Directly inferior nodes are automatically the nodes TRUE and FALSE. The directly inferior nodes of these can be all nodes except window and page nodes.

Other Nodes

Icon	Node Type	Meaning	Possible Direct Subnodes
	Folder	You use this node to combine inferior nodes to logical groups	All except window and page nodes
	Complex section	You use this node to combine all attributes of the node types template, table, loop, folder	All except window and page nodes
	Program lines	You use this node to execute ABAP program code (for example, conversion routines).	(no inferior nodes)