Does any one know the pdf only scenario?

Question

Hi
we came across an 'undocumented feature' of interactive form usage in WDA, that's the so called  pdf only scenario.
This is how it works:
1. for the form form UI element , only the pdfsource is bound to a context node , datasource and template source are empty;
2. the pdfsource is generated from a DDIC  based interactive form ,by calling   FUNCTION 'FP_JOB_OPEN' and FP_JOB_CLOSE;
3. user input data will be stored and send back to the pdfsource as a document(xstring);
the advantages are :
1. DDIC based forms will be available interactively online(which is more friendly to abap developers and more powerful), no need to set to the legacy mode to make it work; (according to SAP LIBRARY, function module based forms are only available for printing);
2.  the context of WDA application is simple, you can switch between forms without complex binding,there is only one binding between the forms and wda context: the pdfsource;
3. using ADS method , you can easily to extract xml data out of the pdfsource, and using ST or DOM you can manipulate it easily and send to user again;
4. ZCI DDIC forms work, no need to use ACF;
we have tested this on SP16 successfully.
Imagine you are building a  WDA application,that will deal with different forms with different interfaces,you will realized the power of the pdf only scenario.
unfortunately, this funcitonality is not officially supported by sap, for ddic forms we have to  follow
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/en/42/c247dc6227311ce10000000a1553f7/frameset.htm
, which i think it's confusing.
i 'd like to know does anyone work with this scenari before, and i hope SAP can hear my voice and to notice the power of this scenario and make it officially a new feature.
best regards
jun
Edited by: Jun Zhang on Oct 7, 2008 11:42 AM

Answer 1

Hi Jun,
I'm currently working on, a such scenario . My forms is based on a DDIC interface and should be used with e-mail flow ( off-line ) and into a webdynpro Abap .
In my form i got dropdownlist box populated by DDIC value , also dynamic text and information such as user name, number of holidays etc...
I'll do all the code describe in the help, unfortunately when i set my forms as enable in the WD4A , all value pre-populated in the forms ( dropdown list box, user name etc... disapears ...
If i set the same forms as not enable , all value appears correctly .
I'll debug the code to see where is the problem, it's in a method where the forms is generated twice and all value disapears. I'll send a message to OSS for this, the answer was first it's because you use dynamic text then the answer was it's because you used DDIC interface please used XML .
I look at sample web dynpro given by sap but none of them are populated when it's appears (perhaps my ides value are not set ) .
So i'm currently trying to redevelop my forms based on a XML Interface and will try it . I let you know if it's works ....
Regards