Migrating Smart Forms 

Use

You want to migrate a form created using Smart Forms to a PDF-based form from the new SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe solution. You want to continue using your existing program for calling forms.

Before you migrate a Smart Form, read the Constraints section in Notes About Migrating Smart Forms. In some cases, it may be less work to create a new context and layout in the new PDF-based forms solution than to modify a form after a migration. You can always use the interface created after a migration as a basis for creating a PDF-based form. The form can then be called using your previous program.

 

Prerequisites

All graphics that are used in the Smart Form have already been migrated. For more information, see Migrating BDS Graphics into the MIME Repository.

 

Procedure

To perform a complete migration and to call the PDF-based form, proceed as follows:

 

  Migrating a PDF-Based Print Form

 

       1.      Go to the Smart Forms initial screen (transaction SMARTFORMS).

       2.      Choose Utilities → Migration → Interactive Form → Export.

       3.      In the dialog box, enter the name of the Smart Form that you want to migrate, the name of the PDF-based target form, and the target interface. The system suggests the name of the Smart Form as the name for the target form and target interface. You can change these names. The target form and the target interface can have different names.

       4.      Choose Continue.

       5.      The system displays the Settings dialog box where you can flag various options for migration. To activate the selected options and close the dialog box, choose Continue.

To view additional information about a particular option, select the option, and press F1.

       6.      In the dialog box Create Object Directory Entry, enter a package for the interface, or save it as a local object.

       7.      Assign the form to a package, or save the form as a local object.

       8.      The system migrates the form.

       9.      If no errors occur during the migration, you can activate the new interface and the PDF-based form. If you see an error message, read Migration with Errors or Warnings below.

 

 Activating an Interface and PDF-Based Print Form

If the form was migrated without errors, the system returns a corresponding message. You now have a PDF-based form (consisting of a form and interface) that you can edit. Initially, migrated forms and interfaces are always inactive and therefore have to be activated before a call can be made from the application.

To activate or edit the form, choose Utilities → Migration → Interactive Form  → Edit. The system displays the initial screen of the form builder for PDF-based forms. After you have activated the form, you can "switch runtime" as described below.

For more information about editing a PDF-based form, see PDF-Based Forms.

 

 Switching Runtime

To call the PDF-based form from the application without changes to the ABAP program and formal parameters, proceed as follows:

...

       1.      Choose Utilities → Migration → Interactive Form → Switch Runtime.

       2.      In the dialog box Switch Runtime, enter the name of the Smart Form and the name of the PDF-based form. In the Runtime Type field, select the form that you want to output at runtime.

       3.      If the PDF form is assigned to a transportable package, you have to assign the runtime switch to a transport request. If this is the case, the system automatically displays a corresponding dialog box.

 

Migration with Errors or Warnings

If errors or warnings occurred during migration, and the Smart Form was migrated only partially or not at all, a log is displayed. This log is written to the application log and is kept in the system for a week.

To display the log within this time period, choose Utilities → Migration → Interactive Form → Display Log.

A log is generated for each migration run. If you migrate a Smart Form more than once, you receive multiple logs. Select a log to see the list of the properties that were not or only partially migrated. Each message in the log starts with the node name from the Smart Form, which enables you to identify the source of the error in the form.

See also:

Notes About Migrating Smart Forms