What is the difference between smartforms and adobe forms

Today, the technology is considered obsolete and is no longer being developed. New forms should therefore no longer be created in SAPscript today. However, companies still use SAPscript for form development today, which speaks for the quality of the technology.

The reason for its continued use is that once forms have been created, they are usually not transferred to one of the newer languages because this is too time-consuming. This is a text-based line editor. However, there is no graphical editor. Forms created in SAPscript often consist of many lines of code and are therefore often very extensive. The search for errors is therefore time-consuming. This makes maintenance, for example, more difficult. However, ABAP knowledge is usually sufficient to make changes.

SAPscript was followed by SmartForms. This technology has been on the market since SmartForms is already considered a significant improvement over SAPscript. SmartForms is already a comparatively modern, comfortable development tool - many things can now be done without programming knowledge. For the first time, SmartForms separates data retrieval from data preparation. Only the form is called in the program. In addition - and this is also new compared to SAPscript - a graphical editor is available.

Data can now be transferred to the form simply by "dragging and dropping" with the mouse. Troubleshooting is also easier than with the predecessor technology, here with the APAB debugger. SAPscript also has a separate debugger, which is already quite helpful - but troubleshooting with SmartForms is easier due to the clearer separation between data retrieval and layout.

Adobe Document Services generates the finished form from the available data in SAP, which can then be worked with online or offline. Companies must download the application and install it on the developer's computer. Adobe LiveCycle Designer is not required for the application for example, to print or display the form.

As part of the transition, Adobe has discontinued support for Adobe LiveCycle It is a standalone product. Graphics and symbols are also available. In addition, users can easily embed tables in forms. One of the biggest advantages is the clear separation of data and layout. For example, regardless of the operating system, forms always remain readable.

Printing forms is also easier and more secure because the output of print forms is now independent of the printer used.

In addition, you and the corresponding Netweaver Base and Support Package version. The Adobe LiveCycle Designer is a dedicated tool that the form designers use to create the forms. The essential elements of the forms are static and dynamic building blocks. In addition, there are so-called tables. In any case, the LiveCycle Designer is installed locally. It is a front-end application.

It can also be operated standalone. The higher the version of the designer, the more functionalities are available. Due to the complexity of installing and exchanging XML data streams, special attention needs to be paid to performance.

This is, of course, especially true for the use of large amounts of data. Learn how to integrate them with ABAP application programs. This course provides basic knowledge of print scenarios. No application details nor Customizing details handled. You will learn how to create interactive forms. You will deal with both offline form scenarios and online form scenarios. You will learn to implement scripting based on JavaScript. Learn how to analyze, debug, and customize them. In any case, the course covers details about application programs, also known as form printing programs.

In addition, you will learn how to handle spool jobs, print bulk data, bundle, parallelize, and send e-mail. Here we have collected some important hints about Adobe Forms. For more information, please refer to the respective notice. You can find them via the SAP portal under service. We would be happy to advise you in a personal conversation.

Contact us. We are happy to advise you! SAP Monitoring. Monitoreo SAP. Newsletter Blog Privacy Imprint Sitemap. This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. We may request cookies to be set on your device. The Styles like the ones in Smart Forms cannot be defined in a central location and used in multiple forms.

Page protection based on paragraphs "Paragraph protected" or "Next paragraph same page" in Smart Forms text modules or SAPscript Include texts is not supported. It is impossible to define the numbered margin independently of the left margin of the text.

The numbering is always part of the text. A user cannot initialize the numbering in the form context. It does not support all types of tab orientation, therefore, it makes sense to use tables. See, for example, SAP documents , , and the online documentation. If possible, user can include this in the application program. User must use scripting for calculations which must be created on the page break page subtotals, for example.