Electronic Form Integration 

Use

By using electronic forms, those users who do not use the SAPGUI can access the functions of the R/3 System.

Using electronic forms you can:

The data can be transferred to the R/3 System either online (synchronously) via RFC or offline (asynchronously) via Internet mail.

The form integration functionality supports so-called "approval workflows" where a workflow is started and an associated work item executed with just one form. Compare the two application examples below.

Prerequisites

To use the functions described here, you must install SAPforms on your PC. This also appplies to local PCs, such as notebooks used by external staff, which are used to access the R/3 functionality offline via mail.

You also need a development environment (Visual Basic, MS Outlook, MS Word, or Excel, to create the forms) to create the electronic forms.

Specific default settings are set for data exchange via mail. This also applies to starting a workflow, executing a work item, and using IDocs.

For more information, see SAPforms Administration.

Finally, some functions are only available in certain releases:

Start Workflow
 

RFC

MAPI

SAPMAPI

SMTP

Visual Basic

3.1G

3.1G

4.5A

3.1G

MS Outlook

4.5A

4.5A

4.5A

4.5A

MS Word

4.5A

4.5A

4.5A

4.5A

MS Excel

4.5A

4.5A

4.5A

4.5A

Execute Work Item
 

RFC

MAPI

SAPMAPI

SMTP

Visual Basic

3.1G

3.1G

4.5A

3.1G

MS Outlook

4.5B

  

4.5B

  

MS Word

        

MS Excel

        

BAPI Call
 

RFC

MAPI

SAPMAPI

SMTP

Visual Basic

3.1G

      

MS Outlook

4.5A

      

MS Word

4.5A

      

MS Excel

4.5A

      

IDoc Support
 

RFC

MAPI

SAPMAPI

SMTP

Visual Basic

4.5A

     

MS Outlook

4.5A

      

MS Word

4.5A

      

MS Excel

4.5A

      

Blank boxes indicate that the function is not available (yet).

Features

The SAPforms Interface

After you have created the electronic form with Visual Basic or MS Outlook, for example, you must prepare it for communication with the R/3 System. This is the task of the SAPforms Designer.

When you are working with the SAPforms Designer, you use plug-ins to define the following:

With the SAPData type plug-in, you specify the interface to the R/3 System that is to be used by the form. The Workflow Container, BAPIs, and IDocs are supported as interfaces.

With SAPForm type plug-in, you specify the development environment (Visual Basic, MS Outlook, MS Word, MS Excel) in which the form was created.

With the SAPXmit type plug-in, you specify the communication method that is to used to exchange data with the R/3 System. Both online communication via RFC and offline communication via mail (MAPI, SMTP) are supported. Note that the BAPI interface only supports online communication.

The binding between the form and the R/3 System is also defined using the SAPforms Designer.

The SAPforms Designer then inserts a few lines of program code in the form when it is generated to evaluate the binding definition at runtime and communicate with the R/3 System.

You can also call the SAPforms interface directly, that is, without using the SAPforms Designer.

Examples

Examples of the scenarios described here are provided in the directory ...\SAPforms\Samples.