Is transaction SFP the worst development tool released by SAP to date?

[Former Member]

Hi,

We made a strategy decision to use only ADOBE PDF forms for all our non reporting outputs and even for some of our report displays. However the development team is complaining about the stability of the development environment transaction SFP used for the form developments.

We went into the details of the SFP transaction and it is a pity to see that the environment was released for customer use and SAP obviously haven't tested it. Field alignment on the forms will go out of synch if another field is moved. If one click on an area the text object relating the area will move.

We are disappointed with the transaction and the increase in development time due to the number of issues with the SFP transaction.

Is there anyone else that encountered this transaction instability? If someone from SAP could comment on the maturity of the framework and transaction SFP it would be great. And even better would be workarounds for the various issues.

[Former Member]

On my form sometimes the conversion exit for MATNR is active and sometimes not, how comes?

Usually I have to re-generate the form routines (via debugger) and everything is fine again, still very unstable or so it seems ...

[Former Member]

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback and the links to useful documentation. It seems the thread answered a lot of related and unrelated questions.

In conclusion adobe forms are best created from scratch opposed to copying a SAP standard delivered form as base. This holds true for most delivered SAP forms.

Regards,

[OttoGold]

Thread regarding the topic here:

[OttoGold]

Probably this is the reason why you didn´t find sufficient examples in the book:

Where to start with scripting:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/livecycle/articles/lc_designer_scripting_basics/lc_designer_scripting_ba...

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/livecycle/es/FormCalc.pdf

Regards Otto

[OttoGold]

I do have that book. My my boss bought it for me after almost 3 yrs of my experience. Even after such experience I found some very useful hints, tips and tricks. I can recommend the book both to the beginner and a pro developer. But that is not a cheap one:)) And about that SAP standard forms... if you really want to see a mess, please open MEDRUCK form and make visible all the parts. THAT IS A MESS. Who reads my blogs maybe can remember I have mentioned this mess few times...

have a nice day all, Otto

[OttoGold]

Is there a conclusion?:))) Otto

[Former Member]

just to echo some comments above.. make sure you upgrade to version 8.0 at least - 8.1 preferably. In my 12+ years of SAP, Adobe forms is the absolute best thing to happen to forms in SAP.

I suggest that your developers need some training and more experience

I have a blog which newbies may find useful [located here|http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/adobe-interactive-form]

there are many things you can do to make it easier on yourself when developing your forms. It may be frustrating at first, but they will come to realize Adobe is light years ahead of Smartforms and SAPScript.

[Former Member]

Henri, i think i know what you're talking about when you try to move a form but something else moves too...

some of the forms SAP delivered are poorly designed - especially some of the HR forms. they do not properly use Subforms to classify logical sections, or they are sloppy when sizing their subforms. So often, when 1 thing moves it affects the others, or subforms overlap with fields... it can be very messy.

I was very frustrated, too, for the first few weeks of development. It didn't help that my first form was very complex - it's still the most complex form we have in the company.

I bought a book - Form Creation with Adobe LiveCycle Designer - it's almost completely worthless. After 2 weeks of development, I had discovered almost everything that was in the book myself

I have not had a chance to review the SAP Press book, but i'm hoping it's better. Can anyone else chime in on this book?

Lastly, take a look at my blog - there are a few entries that are not very long & will help newbies understand Adobe better when starting out.

[former_member317547]

Robert - I have the SAPpress book "SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe" and i'd say it's pretty good. Not as good as the Webdynpro book with the black cover but still pretty good.

I've pretty much jumped right into fairly complex Adobe forms creation and the book has been pretty useful.

The only gripes I have about it are that: 1) the intro regarding installation etc is too long. The audience of the book is almost surely application developers and we don't need that much info.

2) There is not enough javascript example code for the interactive programming. I don't know any javascript and the book didn't really give me enough to just copy and paste

3) I didnt find any tips on how to layout the dynamic form by stacking subforms on top of another. If that recommendation is in the book then I must have just missed it.

[OttoGold]

(just to add my piece)

This technology is my 80% job and I found my way through most of the problems. It is so better in all fields than Smartforms and sapscripts that I can´t understand why would one complain (except the licence which is not cheap in my country). The only thing is you need to get used to the fact this is not programming but rather clicking around. At the beginning I thought the LCD tool is a little non-deterministic, but it was 50% my fault and 50% old version problem.

This technology gives you the opportunity (for example) to let the customer draw his forms (LCD is "free" or there is a trial in Acrobat atd.). That gives the opportunity to let the non-programmers help. And many more...

If you upgrade to at least LCD 8.1 and make your people work hard for a week, nobody can complain about the technology. After a week of hardwork it is only the developers fault or laziness or you lack experinced Adobe team leader (I was send to some projects just to help them start and supervise the "youngsters", who were twice my age BTW:))).

Otto

[chintan_virani]

Well I have never come across issues with the Tool and Environment but there are many issues for implementing an Adobe Forms Solution like ADS not working, credentials missing etc.

Depending upon your release level you opt for the appropriate version of LiveCycle Designer.

Which version are you using by the way?

Chintan

[Former Member]

Hi Henri,

ADOBE Forms is Stupendous success. And the problems you are facing seems like you are using older version of ADLC. Update to latest version of ADLC i.e. 8.1. In previous version(s) I also faced some problem with grid and ruler, but you have drawing aids where you can change the Grid and Ruler settings where you can select units like Centimeters/Millimeters/Inches/Points, the same problem you'll face while writing scripting where if you press one space bar it takes two spaces and while deleting if you press backspace it deletes two characters at a time. So its better to use new designer 8.1, also you'll find many more added features.

Also it has so many advantages than Smartforms as you were already working the forms deveopment you'll be knowing all the advantages. I think if you explore the Tool Completely once you will feel its great to work.

Regards

Pradeep Goli