Printing PDF-Based Forms 
Use
From the Output Controller (transaction SP01), you can print forms that you have previously created with the new form solution based on PDF, which is available as of SAP Web Application Server 6.40.
Integration
Previously, only SAPscript/Smart Forms documents and ABAP lists could be created in and printed from an SAP system. As of SAP Web Application Server 6.40, you can create a form in the new PDF-based form solution, which is integrated into the ABAP Workbench (SE80) and the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio.
Technical background: Forms to be printed are sent to the Adobe Document Services in XML format. These services return “parts” for the forms. A part always consists of a PDF file and a print file (PostScript, PCL, or ZPL), which are placed in the Global Directory.
Only the parts are displayed in the Output Controller (transaction SP01). For a part, you can either display and print the PDF file or output the print file with the usual SAP print functions. In contrast to the display in the Output Controller, report RSPO0020 provides a technical view for administrators. The report also displays the associated PDF and print files and can be used for Troubleshooting when Printing PDF-Based Forms.
The XDC file is the printer description in XML format, which the Adobe Document Services require to create your print files. PDF documents can only be printed on printers of SAP device types for which there is an XDC file on the Adobe Document Server. You can use the Administration Report RSPO0022 for XDC Files to manage the mapping to XDC files on the Adobe Document Server for SAP device types.
Prerequisites
If you output the print file using the SAP functions, you must have a PCL, PostScript, or ZPL printer, since print files can currently only be created from the PDF-based forms for these printer types. You cannot use a printer with the device type SAPWIN/SWIN.
Features
The Output Controller (transaction SP01) has been extended to offer the following functions for printing PDF-based forms:
· The PDF-based documents are indicated in the list of spool requests by a PDF icon.
· If you select an entry in the spool request list, the system displays the parts of the corresponding spool request.
A spool request contains multiple parts, if the add function was used when printing.
With the traditional addition of SAPscript and Smart Forms documents, the print data of the documents to be added is written to one file.
When printing with the new form solution, the print data of the added documents is not written to one file, however, but rather a part is created in a separate file for each document added. The system displays the individual parts of a spool request in the part list, together with their size, creation time, and the number of pages in the Output Controller (transaction SP01).
· In the part list, you can select and print any number of successive parts (such as parts 4-6).
· You can either print from the PDF file, or send the spool request to the printer.
If you print the PDF file using the print functions of the PDF plug-in, the file is printed locally on your Microsoft Windows printer. No output request is generated in the SAP system when printing in this way.
If you send the spool request to the printer, you must have a PCL, PostScript, or ZPL printer, since print files can currently only be created from the PDF-based forms for these printer types. You cannot use a printer with the device type SAPWIN/SWIN.
See also:
Print Architecture and Printing Methods
