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Function documentationSymbol Type “Specification”

 

Placeholder for Specification Data

You use symbols of symbol type Specification to insert the following data from the SAP specification management component:

  • Characteristic value

  • Graphic, phrase, or code of a phrase-enabled characteristic

    Note Note

    For a characteristic, you can output the user-defined texts of a user-defined text type you specify using the environment parameter PHRASE_SEE_FREETEXT. For more information, see the Customizing activity Specify Environment Parameters.

    End of the note.

  • Value of a table field for the SAP component Recipe Management

    Note Note

    Symbols for the Recipe Management SAP component belong for technical reasons to the symbol type Specification.

    End of the note.
Output of Document Management Documents

You can output documents from Document Management on reports using user-defined text types that have been set up accordingly (see User-Defined Texts and Documents).

To output these documents on the report, you must:

  • Insert the symbol for the start of the user-defined text in the report template (GESTDHEADE)

    If the Document indicator is set for the relevant user-defined text type in Customizing for Basic Data and Tools in the Customizing activity Specify User-Defined Text Types, the document will be output on the report. If the indicator is not set, the short or long text of the user-defined text will be output.

  • Make adjustments in the [DocumentTypes] section of the WWI.INI file according to the Customizing activity Adapt WWI.INI

    If more than one Document Management document is specified for a user-defined text type, they can be output if you nest a discrete repeating group around the user-defined text symbol, and then nest a user-defined text repeating group around the discrete repeating group.

Output of Long Texts Retaining Formatting

Using the environment parameter LONGTEXT_FORMAT_SUPPORT, you can specify that paragraph and character formats are transferred from fields with the long text function when outputting texts on WWI reports. For more information, see the documentation for the environment parameter LONGTEXT_FORMAT_SUPPORT under Specify Environment Parameters in the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Basic Data and Tools.

Output of Data to Extended Safety Data Sheets

When a report is generated for extended safety data sheets, the data included in the report is controlled by means of symbols for instance control as well as a master group with instance control (MIC repeating group) and an MIC:POS repeating group (master group items of instance control) where applicable (see Repeating Group Types).

Using the following symbols for instance control, you specify in the report template at which location in the extended safety data sheet the data is included:

  • EHS_ICBCB: Denotes the start of the output block within the MIC repeating group or MIC:POS repeating group

  • EHS_ICBCE: Denotes the end of the output block within the MIC repeating group or MIC:POS repeating group

    Caution Caution

    The symbols for specifying the instance control output blocks must be within the MIC repeating group or the MIC:POS repeating group.

    End of the caution.

    Note Note

    If an output block is not included in the report template, all data is written to the report. Instance control cannot be used to control which data is included in this case.

    End of the note.

Further symbols for instance control that can be used within or outside an MIC repeating group or MIC:POS repeating group are:

  • EHS_ICOREQ: This symbol can be used in the case of a blank compression or conditional output to check whether a value assignment instance was determined for the data output (see Example 2: MIC:POS Repeating Group in Example: Repeating Group with Instance Control) from an MIC repeating group or an MIC:POS repeating group based on the applicable output rules (see Output Rules for the Report Views During Generation of Final Reports in Selecting the Report View).

  • EHS_ICREPV: This symbol can be used to include in the report template which report view was selected when the report was generated. This symbol is used in conditional output, for example, to make the data output dependent on the report view (see Example 2: MIC:POS Repeating Group in Example: Repeating Group with Instance Control).

The following instance control symbol can be used within an MIC repeating group or an MIC:POS repeating group:

  • EHS_ICSCNR: If you use this symbol, any MIC items that are assigned to a value assignment instance are assigned a reference number in the report template. In other words, all MIC items that are entered when the MIC repeating group is processed and output to the MIC:POS repeating group are numbered consecutively (see Repeating Group Types).

    Note Note

    The symbol EHS_ICSCNR can be used within an MIC or MIC:POS repeating group only. The reference numbers are assigned automatically by the system and cannot be changed manually.

    End of the note.

Features

The following expansion modes are available for symbols of symbol type Specification:

  • Grafik, phrase, code (GPC)

    If the symbol is for a phrase-enabled characteristic, you can specify whether the symbol is to be output on the report as a graphic, a phrase, or a code.

    Note Note

    Graphics must be specified as file names with an extension (such as .BMP) in the phrase items of a phrase. To insert a graphic in WWI, the graphics file must be stored in the GRAPHICS directory in the WWI program. This applies both for the WWI generation server and also for all WWI workstations on which the report is generated (for the Report from Template function or in the report information system if the symbol has the expansion time Final report).

    End of the note.

    Recommendation Recommendation

    We therefore recommend you set up a central WWI installation for all WWI workstations or at least reference the GRAPHICS directory centrally using the WWI.INI entry GUI-HOME (see the WWI File Server Installation section under Set Up WWI in Customizing for Basic Data and Tools).

    End of the recommendation.

    Note Note

    Phrases of phrase-enabled characteristics as well as some identification types are language-dependent. These symbols are expanded in the language you specified when you started report generation. If you define a repeating group of the type Validity and language area, you can display language-related symbols within a document template in different languages in accordance with the validity area. In such cases, the system uses the discrete validity area-language combinations defined in the generation variant (see Generation Variant).

    End of the note.

  • Identifier

    A symbol can be expanded as a specific identifier. The identifier is defined using the identification category, the identification type, and, in certain cases, the regulatory list assigned to the identifier. Alternatively, you can also predefine a selection strategy by specifying an identification listing.

  • Input template (see Input Template)

    You can define an input template for numerical values and thus define, for example, the number of decimal places before and after the period.

  • Method

    You can use your own expansion methods by specifying a function module as a method (see Function Module).

    If you have acquired a font for a bar code, you can set up output as a bar code using an appropriate function module (see Use of Bar Codes). For many types of bar code you must perform a code conversion or apply a check-digit algorithm.

  • Bar code

    You can output different bar code types and their parameters. If you select the bar code type from the input help, the system displays the related parameters and any parameter values that are defined. The bar code is created as a graphic when the report is generated and it is then output in place of the symbol.

    Caution Caution

    In the Customizing activity Specify Bar Code Types, define the required bar code types and assign them the relevant bar code parameters.

    End of the caution.

Caution Caution

A prerequisite for using bar codes is that you have acquired a bar code library and installed it on a WWI generation server (see Use of Bar Codes).

End of the caution.

See section B under Example: Layout of an Abridged Material Safety Data Sheet.

Activities

You insert symbols of symbol type Specification in the same way as symbols of symbol type Parameter.

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