Enabling Form Submission Using SMTP 

Use

You can submit the data from a form using the SMTP communication channel. In this case data is sent to a specified mail inbox.

Prerequisites

To implement this scenario, you must have:

·        Configured the relevant form adapter with information about the mail server that you use to send the form; this is required so that the system can fill in the information for the sending mail server in the relevant form field at runtime. For more information, see Configuring Adapters.

·        Configured the form queues for the receiving mailbox; this is required, so that the form is consumed. For more information, see Managing Queues.

Activities

To enable the processor of the form to return data to the system, you include a button and specify the following parameters in the form:

·        On the Object → Field tab select Submit from the Control Type dropdown box

·        On the Object → Submit tab select PDF from the Submit Format dropdown box

·        In the Submit to URL field enter the following string:

%com.sap.caf.gp.if.PostProcessorUrl.mailto.prefix%

The server-side information that determines the mail server address is retrieved when the form is generated from the form template. At runtime, when the user submits the form back to the system, the above URL string is replaced by the relevant server-side information. The user who submits the form can choose the mail client that he or she would like to use. The form is then sent as an attachment to the e-mail address entered by the user.

Example

As an example, we can use a process for time-off request approval or rejection.

An employee uses a standalone form to fill in the data for the time-off request. The form is configured to initiate a process upon completion. The employee fills in the data and sends the form by e-mail to the responsible manager.

The manager’s inbox is configured to consume mails with form attachments automatically. As a result, an approval process is triggered in Guided Procedures. The form is rendered as an input parameter of type Structure Template in the first action of the process. The manager can then open the form to see the entered data and approve or reject the request.