Fillable tables in FormsCentral yet?

Hello,
It was previously answered that tables are not supported in FormsCentral. That was is 2011. Have any improvements been made, and are fillable tables supported in FormsCentral yet? If not, does anyone have any workarounds to either get a table OR a question with multiple checkboxes in one line to work?
Example) Please indicate if the following materials are used in the construction of your device:
Material          Yes          No                    Comments
Sunshine          X
Rainbows          X
Unicorns                         X                    We were out of unicorns.
Thanks!!

Sure! Heck, I've got LOTS of FormsCentral tips!
When it comes to skip logic, there are just a few things to remember:
You can apply skip logic to a question, to several questions, or to whole pages of your form. Just select the item that you want to show or hide based on a previous response, and check the "Show/hide" box in the field properties fly-out menu. That's where you can set your conditions. (If you want to show or hide a full page, add a page break to your form, select that page break, and check the box there.)
FormsCentral lets you show or hide content based on answers to previous questions - you can choose the number of conditions you set. Remember, though, that these answers MUST be for choice-based questions: drop-down menus, single or multiple choice questions, or check boxes. FormsCentral can't read answers people type in, so they have to have chosen an item from some sort of list. Take your fine example of the materials checklist:
Notice that I had to choose a field from the above table that had certain associated values (in our case, either yes or no).
The best way to learn how to do this is just to play around with the conditions for a given form field or form page and test the resulting form; I'm sure you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly! Let me know if you need any more help and I'll try to explain this stuff in more detail.
Thanks!
Rebecca

Similar Messages

How can I add a fillable table to my form?

How do I create a form that includes a fillable table in FormsCentral? I need to create a form that is similar to an order form with multiple spaces available for Quantity, Item Description, and Cost. Then I need it to calculate a total cost for all items. Can I do that using FormsCentral? If not, what is your solution? Keeping in mind that I want people to be able to complete the form electronically instead of pringing it and filling it out.
Thanks,

Forms created/designed in FormsCentral don't support calculations. FormsCentral also doesn't support tables on the form. You can add fields side by side but it won't be exactly like a table. You best solution is to create a PDF outside of FormsCentral. You can use Acrobat to add form fields and caulculations to your form.
Once you have the PDF Form you can import it in FormsCentral to collect data electronically. People will need to fill out your Submission enabled PDF Form using Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader or Adobe Reader Mobile and then press the submit button added by FormsCentral to send the data electronically to your Response Table inside FormsCentral.
hope this helps
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Creating tables in FormsCentral

Hi! I am trying to create a table in FormsCentral to add student expenses and savings--creating an bursary application form, for student in financial need. Can this be done with Forms Central. I have found functions to be used in FormsCentral http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat-com/formscentral/help/formula-syntax-built-in-functions.htm l; but where can we utilize these if the option of creating a table is not available at this time. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hi;
Tables are not a type of field FormsCentral supports at this time. The Help docs about Formulas are for the "View Responses" tab where there is a table of the responses, not for the form itself.
Thanks,
Josh

Random characters added in Excel export from Adobe Tracker (via fillable PDF from FormsCentral)

Exported fillable PDF from FormsCentral and distributed it via Adobe Pro X. Received two responses and from the Tracker, we exported to Excel. In the Excel columns, there are seemingly random characters and the word "edit" which are not in our question. For example, "_10_8_House_rep_edit;_6S7OYQDcL9nQcNR6j761WQ
Thanks!

1. To edit the PDF follow these steps : http://forums.adobe.com/docs/DOC-3661
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I'm working on a form in livecycle and am trying to make a form which is easy for my client to fill out and easy for me to extract the data from.
Basically I am desiging a form that my clent fills out by entering data into 4 X 3 table (four rows, three columns). In this form they will put names in the first column, countries in the second column, and account numbers in the third coloumn.
While this is not too hard to do, what I would really like to do is make it so that when I extract this data from the form I can easily select all the names in the first column at once, all the countries listed in column two at once, and then the same for column three. I'm placing this data into a word file for use in a mail merge table, so it just streamlines it all if I can highlight everything in one column at once rather than having to select every name/country/account number separately. (And before I get criticized for being lazy, haha, I will be duplicating this 4X3 table at least 7-8 times, as each table will have information specific to other criteria in the form.)
I've realized that Adobe doesn't seem to let me bulk select text in multiple text boxes, yet because I'm working with a table I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing that would allow me to do this, or perhaps there's even another better way to do this job.
Thank you for your help and I apologize if this is a bit confusing!

You may have already gotten an answer for this since it was a bit ago, but if you have Adobe Acrobat Pro you can save all of your forms you collect into one folder, saved with individual file names so they will not over-write one another and then in Acrobat click Forms>Manage Form Data>Merge Data Files into Spreadsheets. It walks you through it from there and you can Select All of your saved files and it will generate the spreadsheet for you and you can do what you wish in Excel. Hope this helps!

Tables in Formscentral

How do I create a table with text fields so that the table can be completed in Adobe Pro XI Formscentral.
The table must have four columns and seven rows - where the first row and the first column will be used for headings. The rest of the table must be open so that it can be filled in.

Unfortunately, there isn't a way to do this with a web form or a PDF generated from a form created by the FormsCentral designer app.

TEMP Tables: I hv yet to receive replies for prev mails

Can we create temp tables from a PL/SQL block in 8i.
If not how do we create it, using Dynamic PL/SQL. Any help will
be appreciated.
Thanks
Anish
null

ANISH (guest) wrote:
: Can we create temp tables from a PL/SQL block in 8i.
: If not how do we create it, using Dynamic PL/SQL. Any help
will
: be appreciated.
: Thanks
: Anish
Anish,
Dynamic SQL will work. Though you have not mention how the temp
table is going to be used, another option could be PL/SQL table;
which is an array in PASCAL, C, Ada and other languages.
If you are going to use the temp table to hold intermediary
results, I will recommend considering PL/SQL table. Otherwise,
dynamic SQL will the only option.
If you are opting for dynamic SQL, you may want to pass in
parameters such as tablespace name, table name, storage
parameters, etc. Then, this procedure can be used to create more
than one table.
Regards,
John
null

DisplayTag Nested tables, simple and yet Sooooo unclear, assistance needed.

Hi there,
With reference to displayTag Nested tables, I wonder if someone can assist me here:
Say i have a List of the following class (empl):
     public Empl()
          private String name;
          private List projects;
                //getter and setter
     public Projects()
          private int id;
          private Date dateFinish;
                //getter and setter
     }Q: how would the nested will work out?
I have tried:
<display:table name="sessionScope.empl_list" class="dataTable" pagesize="50" id="parent">
<display:column property="empl.name"                      title="ID" />
//how this is going to be rearranged ????
<c:set var="nestedName" value="test.item[${parent_rowNum -1}].subList" />
<display:column title="Related address">
     <display:table name="${nestedName}" id="child${parent_rowNum}" class="simple sublist">
          <display:column property="name" class="textRed" />
          <display:column property="email" />
     </display:table>
</display:column>
</display:table>I have tried murmurous combinations, none worked.
Thanks for any help

I think your problem was the EL.
Use <c:set var="nestedName" value="${test.item[parent_rowNum -1].subList}" /> instead of <c:set var="nestedName" value="test.item[${parent_rowNum -1}].subList" /> as the whole row contains a value.
<display:table name="sessionScope.empl_list" class="dataTable" pagesize="50" id="parent">
<display:column property="empl.name" title="ID" />
//how this is going to be rearranged ????
<c:set var="nestedName" value="${test.item[parent_rowNum -1].subList}" />
<display:column title="Related address">
     <display:table name="${nestedName}" id="child${parent_rowNum}" class="simple sublist">
          <display:column property="name" class="textRed" />
          <display:column property="email" />
     </display:table>
</display:column>
</display:table>

IPhone SDK - scrollToRowAtIndexPath crashes if table is not loaded yet

I have a case where i have to scroll the UITableView to a particular row and section. When i tried this the application crashes when the table is not yet done loading.
Is there a way to find out if the table view is done loading?
I did not see any delegate methods which address this.
I would appreciate for any pointers on how to handle this scenario.
Thanks,
-TRS

Found a solution.
I reload the table before i ask it to scroll to a position.
- (void) setOrdinal:(jint) topItem {
NSIndexPath *indexPath = [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:topItem inSection:0];
[tableView reloadData];
[tableView scrollToRowAtIndexPath:indexPath atScrollPosition:UITableViewScrollPositionTop animated:NO];
The setOrdinal method is called by the user of the view containing the table.
This works just fine.
Thanks to all who took time to read this post.
-TRS

Is there a licensing limit on PDF's created in Acrobat and imported into FormsCentral?

Hello,
I have been looking at the forums and also chatted with someone from tech support. I have created a PDF in Acrobat Professional. I have not enabled Reader Extensions on the file. I imported it into FormsCentral and added a submit button. To test it, I filled it out and saved it successfully using Reader 9. I also submitted it successfully using the submit button. I do not yet have a paid FormsCentral account, but see that the Plus account allows 5000 submissions per form. This is not a licensing limit, but a space limit (see http://forums.adobe.com/docs/DOC-1382). I also understand there is a 500 use licensing limit on PDF's that have Reader Extensions enabled. Does that apply to an imported PDF with no Reader Extensions enabled? Please clarify.
Thanks!

Hello Gen,
Thank you for your reply. I have seen many discussions on these forums, as well as elsewhere on the internet regarding Adobe's licensing limit on fillable PDF forms created in Acrobat that have Reader Extensions enabled. We are only allowed to extract 500 responses from Reader Extended PDF's, according to this limit.
I wanted to confirm if this is applicable to a PDF I create in Acrobat Pro (without the Reader Extensions enabled), then imported and submitted through FormsCentral using a Plus account. You are saying that FormsCentral adds the Reader Extensions. Does that mean that the PDF is now subject to Adobe's limit of 500 on Reader Extended PDF's? Or does the fact that the PDF form is submitted through FormsCentral eliminate the limit of 500?
I just want to be sure that we can go ahead and send out a fillable PDF through FormsCentral without worrying we are exceeding the licensing limit.
Thanks again!

How to select the data efficiently from the table

hi every one,
i need some help in selecting data from FAGLFLEXA table.i have to select many amounts from different group of G/L accounts
(groups are predefined here which contains a set of g/L account no.).
if i select every time for each group then it will be a performance issue, in order to avoid it what should i do, can any one suggest me a method or a smaple query so that i can perform the task efficiently.

Hi ,
1.select and keep the data in internal table
2.avoid select inside loop ..endloop.
3.try to use for all entries
check the below details
Hi Praveen,
Performance Notes
1.Keep the Result Set Small
You should aim to keep the result set small. This reduces both the amount of memory used in the database system and the network load when transferring data to the application server. To reduce the size of your result sets, use the WHERE and HAVING clauses.
Using the WHERE Clause
Whenever you access a database table, you should use a WHERE clause in the corresponding Open SQL statement. Even if a program containing a SELECT statement with no WHERE clause performs well in tests, it may slow down rapidly in your production system, where the data volume increases daily. You should only dispense with the WHERE clause in exceptional cases where you really need the entire contents of the database table every time the statement is executed.
When you use the WHERE clause, the database system optimizes the access and only transfers the required data. You should never transfer unwanted data to the application server and then filter it using ABAP statements.
Using the HAVING Clause
After selecting the required lines in the WHERE clause, the system then processes the GROUP BY clause, if one exists, and summarizes the database lines selected. The HAVING clause allows you to restrict the grouped lines, and in particular, the aggregate expressions, by applying further conditions.
Effect
If you use the WHERE and HAVING clauses correctly:
There are no more physical I/Os in the database than necessary
No unwanted data is stored in the database cache (it could otherwise displace data that is actually required)
The CPU usage of the database host is minimize
The network load is reduced, since only the data that is required by the application is transferred to the application server.
Minimize the Amount of Data Transferred
Data is transferred between the database system and the application server in blocks. Each block is up to 32 KB in size (the precise size depends on your network communication hardware). Administration information is transported in the blocks as well as the data.
To minimize the network load, you should transfer as few blocks as possible. Open SQL allows you to do this as follows:
Restrict the Number of Lines
If you only want to read a certain number of lines in a SELECT statement, use the UP TO <n> ROWS addition in the FROM clause. This tells the database system only to transfer <n> lines back to the application server. This is more efficient than transferring more lines than necessary back to the application server and then discarding them in your ABAP program.
If you expect your WHERE clause to return a large number of duplicate entries, you can use the DISTINCT addition in the SELECT clause.
Restrict the Number of Columns
You should only read the columns from a database table that you actually need in the program. To do this, list the columns in the SELECT clause. Note here that the INTO CORRESPONDING FIELDS addition in the INTO clause is only efficient with large volumes of data, otherwise the runtime required to compare the names is too great. For small amounts of data, use a list of variables in the INTO clause.
Do not use * to select all columns unless you really need them. However, if you list individual columns, you may have to adjust the program if the structure of the database table is changed in the ABAP Dictionary. If you specify the database table dynamically, you must always read all of its columns.
Use Aggregate Functions
If you only want to use data for calculations, it is often more efficient to use the aggregate functions of the SELECT clause than to read the individual entries from the database and perform the calculations in the ABAP program.
Aggregate functions allow you to find out the number of values and find the sum, average, minimum, and maximum values.
Following an aggregate expression, only its result is transferred from the database.
Data Transfer when Changing Table Lines
When you use the UPDATE statement to change lines in the table, you should use the WHERE clause to specify the relevant lines, and then SET statements to change only the required columns.
When you use a work area to overwrite table lines, too much data is often transferred. Furthermore, this method requires an extra SELECT statement to fill the work area. Minimize the Number of Data Transfers
In every Open SQL statement, data is transferred between the application server and the database system. Furthermore, the database system has to construct or reopen the appropriate administration data for each database access. You can therefore minimize the load on the network and the database system by minimizing the number of times you access the database.
Multiple Operations Instead of Single Operations
When you change data using INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE, use internal tables instead of single entries. If you read data using SELECT, it is worth using multiple operations if you want to process the data more than once, other wise, a simple select loop is more efficient.
Avoid Repeated Access
As a rule you should read a given set of data once only in your program, and using a single access. Avoid accessing the same data more than once (for example, SELECT before an UPDATE).
Avoid Nested SELECT Loops
A simple SELECT loop is a single database access whose result is passed to the ABAP program line by line. Nested SELECT loops mean that the number of accesses in the inner loop is multiplied by the number of accesses in the outer loop. You should therefore only use nested SELECT loops if the selection in the outer loop contains very few lines.
However, using combinations of data from different database tables is more the rule than the exception in the relational data model. You can use the following techniques to avoid nested SELECT statements:
ABAP Dictionary Views
You can define joins between database tables statically and systemwide as views in the ABAP Dictionary. ABAP Dictionary views can be used by all ABAP programs. One of their advantages is that fields that are common to both tables (join fields) are only transferred once from the database to the application server.
Views in the ABAP Dictionary are implemented as inner joins. If the inner table contains no lines that correspond to lines in the outer table, no data is transferred. This is not always the desired result. For example, when you read data from a text table, you want to include lines in the selection even if the corresponding text does not exist in the required language. If you want to include all of the data from the outer table, you can program a left outer join in ABAP.
The links between the tables in the view are created and optimized by the database system. Like database tables, you can buffer views on the application server. The same buffering rules apply to views as to tables. In other words, it is most appropriate for views that you use mostly to read data. This reduces the network load and the amount of physical I/O in the database.
Joins in the FROM Clause
You can read data from more than one database table in a single SELECT statement by using inner or left outer joins in the FROM clause.
The disadvantage of using joins is that redundant data is read from the hierarchically-superior table if there is a 1:N relationship between the outer and inner tables. This can considerably increase the amount of data transferred from the database to the application server. Therefore, when you program a join, you should ensure that the SELECT clause contains a list of only the columns that you really need. Furthermore, joins bypass the table buffer and read directly from the database. For this reason, you should use an ABAP Dictionary view instead of a join if you only want to read the data.
The runtime of a join statement is heavily dependent on the database optimizer, especially when it contains more than two database tables. However, joins are nearly always quicker than using nested SELECT statements.
Subqueries in the WHERE and HAVING Clauses
Another way of accessing more than one database table in the same Open SQL statement is to use subqueries in the WHERE or HAVING clause. The data from a subquery is not transferred to the application server. Instead, it is used to evaluate conditions in the database system. This is a simple and effective way of programming complex database operations.
Using Internal Tables
It is also possible to avoid nested SELECT loops by placing the selection from the outer loop in an internal table and then running the inner selection once only using the FOR ALL ENTRIES addition. This technique stems from the time before joins were allowed in the FROM clause. On the other hand, it does prevent redundant data from being transferred from the database.
Using a Cursor to Read Data
A further method is to decouple the INTO clause from the SELECT statement by opening a cursor using OPEN CURSOR and reading data line by line using FETCH NEXT CURSOR. You must open a new cursor for each nested loop. In this case, you must ensure yourself that the correct lines are read from the database tables in the correct order. This usually requires a foreign key relationship between the database tables, and that they are sorted by the foreign key. Minimize the Search Overhead
You minimize the size of the result set by using the WHERE and HAVING clauses. To increase the efficiency of these clauses, you should formulate them to fit with the database table indexes.
Database Indexes
Indexes speed up data selection from the database. They consist of selected fields of a table, of which a copy is then made in sorted order. If you specify the index fields correctly in a condition in the WHERE or HAVING clause, the system only searches part of the index (index range scan).
The primary index is always created automatically in the R/3 System. It consists of the primary key fields of the database table. This means that for each combination of fields in the index, there is a maximum of one line in the table. This kind of index is also known as UNIQUE.
If you cannot use the primary index to determine the result set because, for example, none of the primary index fields occur in the WHERE or HAVING clause, the system searches through the entire table (full table scan). For this case, you can create secondary indexes, which can restrict the number of table entries searched to form the result set.
You specify the fields of secondary indexes using the ABAP Dictionary. You can also determine whether the index is unique or not. However, you should not create secondary indexes to cover all possible combinations of fields.
Only create one if you select data by fields that are not contained in another index, and the performance is very poor. Furthermore, you should only create secondary indexes for database tables from which you mainly read, since indexes have to be updated each time the database table is changed. As a rule, secondary indexes should not contain more than four fields, and you should not have more than five indexes for a single database table.
If a table has more than five indexes, you run the risk of the optimizer choosing the wrong one for a particular operation. For this reason, you should avoid indexes with overlapping contents.
Secondary indexes should contain columns that you use frequently in a selection, and that are as highly selective as possible. The fewer table entries that can be selected by a certain column, the higher that columns selectivity. Place the most selective fields at the beginning of the index. Your secondary index should be so selective that each index entry corresponds to at most five percent of the table entries. If this is not the case, it is not worth creating the index. You should also avoid creating indexes for fields that are not always filled, where their value is initial for most entries in the table.
If all of the columns in the SELECT clause are contained in the index, the system does not have to search the actual table data after reading from the index. If you have a SELECT clause with very few columns, you can improve performance dramatically by including these columns in a secondary index.
Formulating Conditions for Indexes
You should bear in mind the following when formulating conditions for the WHERE and HAVING clauses so that the system can use a database index and does not have to use a full table scan.
Check for Equality and Link Using AND
The database index search is particularly efficient if you check all index fields for equality (= or EQ) and link the expressions using AND.
Use Positive Conditions
The database system only supports queries that describe the result in positive terms, for example, EQ or LIKE. It does not support negative expressions like NE or NOT LIKE.
If possible, avoid using the NOT operator in the WHERE clause, because it is not supported by database indexes; invert the logical expression instead.
Using OR
The optimizer usually stops working when an OR expression occurs in the condition. This means that the columns checked using OR are not included in the index search. An exception to this are OR expressions at the outside of conditions. You should try to reformulate conditions that apply OR expressions to columns relevant to the index, for example, into an IN condition.
Using Part of the Index
If you construct an index from several columns, the system can still use it even if you only specify a few of the columns in a condition. However, in this case, the sequence of the columns in the index is important. A column can only be used in the index search if all of the columns before it in the index definition have also been specified in the condition.
Checking for Null Values
The IS NULL condition can cause problems with indexes. Some database systems do not store null values in the index structure. Consequently, this field cannot be used in the index.
Avoid Complex Conditions
Avoid complex conditions, since the statements have to be broken down into their individual components by the database system.
Reduce the Database Load
Unlike application servers and presentation servers, there is only one database server in your system. You should therefore aim to reduce the database load as much as possible. You can use the following methods:
Buffer Tables on the Application Server
You can considerably reduce the time required to access data by buffering it in the application server table buffer. Reading a single entry from table T001 can take between 8 and 600 milliseconds, while reading it from the table buffer takes 0.2 - 1 milliseconds.
Whether a table can be buffered or not depends its technical attributes in the ABAP Dictionary. There are three buffering types:
Resident buffering (100%) The first time the table is accessed, its entire contents are loaded in the table buffer.
Generic buffering In this case, you need to specify a generic key (some of the key fields) in the technical settings of the table in the ABAP Dictionary. The table contents are then divided into generic areas. When you access data with one of the generic keys, the whole generic area is loaded into the table buffer. Client-specific tables are often buffered generically by client.
Partial buffering (single entry) Only single entries are read from the database and stored in the table buffer.
When you read from buffered tables, the following happens:
1. An ABAP program requests data from a buffered table.
2. The ABAP processor interprets the Open SQL statement. If the table is defined as a buffered table in the ABAP Dictionary, the ABAP processor checks in the local buffer on the application server to see if the table (or part of it) has already been buffered.
3. If the table has not yet been buffered, the request is passed on to the database. If the data exists in the buffer, it is sent to the program.
4. The database server passes the data to the application server, which places it in the table buffer.
5. The data is passed to the program.
When you change a buffered table, the following happens:
1. The database table is changed and the buffer on the application server is updated. The database interface logs the update statement in the table DDLOG. If the system has more than one application server, the buffer on the other servers is not updated at once.
2. All application servers periodically read the contents of table DDLOG, and delete the corresponding contents from their buffers where necessary. The granularity depends on the buffering type. The table buffers in a distributed system are generally synchronized every 60 seconds (parameter: rsdisp/bufreftime).
3. Within this period, users on non-synchronized application servers will read old data. The data is not recognized as obsolete until the next buffer synchronization. The next time it is accessed, it is re-read from the database.
You should buffer the following types of tables:
Tables that are read very frequently
Tables that are changed very infrequently
Relatively small tables (few lines, few columns, or short columns)
Tables where delayed update is acceptable.
Once you have buffered a table, take care not to use any Open SQL statements that bypass the buffer.
The SELECT statement bypasses the buffer when you use any of the following:
The BYPASSING BUFFER addition in the FROM clause
The DISTINCT addition in the SELECT clause
Aggregate expressions in the SELECT clause
Joins in the FROM clause
The IS NULL condition in the WHERE clause
Subqueries in the WHERE clause
The ORDER BY clause
The GROUP BY clause
The FOR UPDATE addition
Furthermore, all Native SQL statements bypass the buffer.
Avoid Reading Data Repeatedly
If you avoid reading the same data repeatedly, you both reduce the number of database accesses and reduce the load on the database. Furthermore, a "dirty read" may occur with database tables other than Oracle. This means that the second time you read data from a database table, it may be different from the data read the first time. To ensure that the data in your program is consistent, you should read it once only and then store it in an internal table.
Sort Data in Your ABAP Programs
The ORDER BY clause in the SELECT statement is not necessarily optimized by the database system or executed with the correct index. This can result in increased runtime costs. You should only use ORDER BY if the database sort uses the same index with which the table is read. To find out which index the system uses, use SQL Trace in the ABAP Workbench Performance Trace. If the indexes are not the same, it is more efficient to read the data into an internal table or extract and sort it in the ABAP program using the SORT statement.
Use Logical Databases
SAP supplies logical databases for all applications. A logical database is an ABAP program that decouples Open SQL statements from application programs. They are optimized for the best possible database performance. However, it is important that you use the right logical database. The hierarchy of the data you want to read must reflect the structure of the logical database, otherwise, they can have a negative effect on performance. For example, if you want to read data from a table right at the bottom of the hierarchy of the logical database, it has to read at least the key fields of all tables above it in the hierarchy. In this case, it is more efficient to use a SELECT statement.
Work Processes
Work processes execute the individual dialog steps in R/3 applications. The next two sections describe firstly the structure of a work process, and secondly the different types of work process in the R/3 System.
Structure of a Work Process
Work processes execute the dialog steps of application programs. They are components of an application server. The following diagram shows the components of a work process:
Each work process contains two software processors and a database interface.
Screen Processor
In R/3 application programming, there is a difference between user interaction and processing logic. From a programming point of view, user interaction is controlled by screens. As well as the actual input mask, a screen also consists of flow logic. The screen flow logic controls a large part of the user interaction. The R/3 Basis system contains a special language for programming screen flow logic. The screen processor executes the screen flow logic. Via the dispatcher, it takes over the responsibility for communication between the work process and the SAPgui, calls modules in the flow logic, and ensures that the field contents are transferred from the screen to the flow logic.
ABAP Processor
The actual processing logic of an application program is written in ABAP - SAPs own programming language. The ABAP processor executes the processing logic of the application program, and communicates with the database interface. The screen processor tells the ABAP processor which module of the screen flow logic should be processed next. The following screen illustrates the interaction between the screen and the ABAP processors when an application program is running.
Database Interface
The database interface provides the following services:
Establishing and terminating connections between the work process and the database.
Access to database tables
Access to R/3 Repository objects (ABAP programs, screens and so on)
Access to catalog information (ABAP Dictionary)
Controlling transactions (commit and rollback handling)
Table buffer administration on the application server.
The following diagram shows the individual components of the database interface:
The diagram shows that there are two different ways of accessing databases: Open SQL and Native SQL.
Open SQL statements are a subset of Standard SQL that is fully integrated in ABAP. They allow you to access data irrespective of the database system that the R/3 installation is using. Open SQL consists of the Data Manipulation Language (DML) part of Standard SQL; in other words, it allows you to read (SELECT) and change (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) data. The tasks of the Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Control Language (DCL) parts of Standard SQL are performed in the R/3 System by the ABAP Dictionary and the authorization system. These provide a unified range of functions, irrespective of database, and also contain functions beyond those offered by the various database systems.
Open SQL also goes beyond Standard SQL to provide statements that, in conjunction with other ABAP constructions, can simplify or speed up database access. It also allows you to buffer certain tables on the application server, saving excessive database access. In this case, the database interface is responsible for comparing the buffer with the database. Buffers are partly stored in the working memory of the current work process, and partly in the shared memory for all work processes on an application server. Where an R/3 System is distributed across more than one application server, the data in the various buffers is synchronized at set intervals by the buffer management. When buffering the database, you must remember that data in the buffer is not always up to date. For this reason, you should only use the buffer for data which does not often change.
Native SQL is only loosely integrated into ABAP, and allows access to all of the functions contained in the programming interface of the respective database system. Unlike Open SQL statements, Native SQL statements are not checked and converted, but instead are sent directly to the database system. Programs that use Native SQL are specific to the database system for which they were written. R/3 applications contain as little Native SQL as possible. In fact, it is only used in a few Basis components (for example, to create or change table definitions in the ABAP Dictionary).
The database-dependent layer in the diagram serves to hide the differences between database systems from the rest of the database interface. You choose the appropriate layer when you install the Basis system. Thanks to the standardization of SQL, the differences in the syntax of statements are very slight. However, the semantics and behavior of the statements have not been fully standardized, and the differences in these areas can be greater. When you use Native SQL, the function of the database-dependent layer is minimal.
Types of Work Process
Although all work processes contain the components described above, they can still be divided into different types. The type of a work process determines the kind of task for which it is responsible in the application server. It does not specify a particular set of technical attributes. The individual tasks are distributed to the work processes by the dispatcher.
Before you start your R/3 System, you determine how many work processes it will have, and what their types will be. The dispatcher starts the work processes and only assigns them tasks that correspond to their type. This means that you can distribute work process types to optimize the use of the resources on your application servers.
The following diagram shows again the structure of an application server, but this time, includes the various possible work process types:
The various work processes are described briefly below. Other parts of this documentation describe the individual components of the application server and the R/3 System in more detail.
Dialog Work Process
Dialog work processes deal with requests from an active user to execute dialog steps.
Update Work Process
Update work processes execute database update requests. Update requests are part of an SAP LUW that bundle the database operations resulting from the dialog in a database LUW for processing in the background.
Background Work Process
Background work processes process programs that can be executed without user interaction (background jobs).
Enqueue Work Process
The enqueue work process administers a lock table in the shared memory area. The lock table contains the logical database locks for the R/3 System and is an important part of the SAP LUW concept. In an R/3 System, you may only have one lock table. You may therefore also only have one application server with enqueue work processes.
Spool Work Process
The spool work process passes sequential datasets to a printer or to optical archiving. Each application server may contain several spool work process.
The services offered by an application server are determined by the types of its work processes. One application server may, of course, have more than one function. For example, it may be both a dialog server and the enqueue server, if it has several dialog work processes and an enqueue work process.
You can use the system administration functions to switch a work process between dialog and background modes while the system is still running. This allows you, for example, to switch an R/3 System between day and night operation, where you have more dialog than background work processes during the day, and the other way around during the night.
ABAP Application Server
R/3 programs run on application servers. They are an important component of the R/3 System. The following sections describe application servers in more detail.
Structure of an ABAP Application Server
The application layer of an R/3 System is made up of the application servers and the message server. Application programs in an R/3 System are run on application servers. The application servers communicate with the presentation components, the database, and also with each other, using the message server.
The following diagram shows the structure of an application server:
The individual components are:
Work Processes
An application server contains work processes, which are components that can run an application. Work processes are components that are able to execute an application (that is, one dialog step each). Each work process is linked to a memory area containing the context of the application being run. The context contains the current data for the application program. This needs to be available in each dialog step. Further information about the different types of work process is contained later on in this documentation.
Dispatcher
Each application server contains a dispatcher. The dispatcher is the link between the work processes and the users logged onto the application server. Its task is to receive requests for dialog steps from the SAP GUI and direct them to a free work process. In the same way, it directs screen output resulting from the dialog step back to the appropriate user.
Gateway
Each application server contains a gateway. This is the interface for the R/3 communication protocols (RFC, CPI/C). It can communicate with other application servers in the same R/3 System, with other R/3 Systems, with R/2 Systems, or with non-SAP systems.
The application server structure as described here aids the performance and scalability of the entire R/3 System. The fixed number of work processes and dispatching of dialog steps leads to optimal memory use, since it means that certain components and the memory areas of a work process are application-independent and reusable. The fact that the individual work processes work independently makes them suitable for a multi-processor architecture. The methods used in the dispatcher to distribute tasks to work processes are discussed more closely in the section Dispatching Dialog Steps.
Shared Memory
All of the work processes on an application server use a common main memory area called shared memory to save contexts or to buffer constant data locally.
The resources that all work processes use (such as programs and table contents) are contained in shared memory. Memory management in the R/3 System ensures that the work processes always address the correct context, that is the data relevant to the current state of the program that is running. A mapping process projects the required context for a dialog step from shared memory into the address of the relevant work process. This reduces the actual copying to a minimum.
Local buffering of data in the shared memory of the application server reduces the number of database reads required. This reduces access times for application programs considerably. For optimal use of the buffer, you can concentrate individual applications (financial accounting, logistics, human resources) into separate application server groups.
Database Connection
When you start up an R/3 System, each application server registers its work processes with the database layer, and receives a single dedicated channel for each. While the system is running, each work process is a user (client) of the database system (server). You cannot change the work process registration while the system is running. Neither can you reassign a database channel from one work process to another. For this reason, a work process can only make database changes within a single database logical unit of work (LUW). A database LUW is an inseparable sequence of database operations. This has important consequences for the programming model explained below.
Dispatching Dialog Steps
The number of users logged onto an application server is often many times greater than the number of available work processes. Furthermore, it is not restricted by the R/3 system architecture. Furthermore, each user can run several applications at once. The dispatcher has the important task of distributing all dialog steps among the work processes on the application server.
The following diagram is an example of how this might happen:
1. The dispatcher receives the request to execute a dialog step from user 1 and directs it to work process 1, which happens to be free. The work process addresses the context of the application program (in shared memory) and executes the dialog step. It then becomes free again.
2. The dispatcher receives the request to execute a dialog step from user 2 and directs it to work process 1, which is now free again. The work process executes the dialog step as in step 1.
3. While work process 1 is still working, the dispatcher receives a further request from user 1 and directs it to work process 2, which is free.
4. After work processes 1 and 2 have finished processing their dialog steps, the dispatcher receives another request from user 1 and directs it to work process 1, which is free again.
5. While work process 1 is still working, the dispatcher receives a further request from user 2 and directs it to work process 2, which is free.
From this example, we can see that:
A dialog step from a program is assigned to a single work process for execution.
The individual dialog steps of a program can be executed on different work processes, and the program context must be addressed for each new work process.
A work process can execute dialog steps of different programs from different users.
The example does not show that the dispatcher tries to distribute the requests to the work processes such that the same work process is used as often as possible for the successive dialog steps in an application. This is useful, since it saves the program context having to be addressed each time a dialog step is executed.
Dispatching and the Programming Model
The separation of application and presentation layer made it necessary to split up application programs into dialog steps. This, and the fact that dialog steps are dispatched to individual work processes, has had important consequences for the programming model.
As mentioned above, a work process can only make database changes within a single database logical unit of work (LUW). A database LUW is an inseparable sequence of database operations. The contents of the database must be consistent at its beginning and end. The beginning and end of a database LUW are defined by a commit command to the database system (database commit). During a database LUW, that is, between two database commits, the database system itself ensures consistency within the database. In other words, it takes over tasks such as locking database entries while they are being edited, or restoring the old data (rollback) if a step terminates in an error.
A typical SAP application program extends over several screens and the corresponding dialog steps. The user requests database changes on the individual screens that should lead to the database being consistent once the screens have all been processed. However, the individual dialog steps run on different work processes, and a single work process can process dialog steps from other applications. It is clear that two or more independent applications whose dialog steps happen to be processed on the same work process cannot be allowed to work with the same database LUW.
Consequently, a work process must open a separate database LUW for each dialog step. The work process sends a commit command (database commit) to the database at the end of each dialog step in which it makes database changes. These commit commands are called implicit database commits, since they are not explicitly written into the application program.
These implicit database commits mean that a database LUW can be kept open for a maximum of one dialog step. This leads to a considerable reduction in database load, serialization, and deadlocks, and enables a large number of users to use the same system.
However, the question now arises of how this method (1 dialog step = 1 database LUW) can be reconciled with the demand to make commits and rollbacks dependent on the logical flow of the application program instead of the technical distribution of dialog steps. Database update requests that depend on one another form logical units in the program that extend over more than one dialog step. The database changes associated with these logical units must be executed together and must also be able to be undone together.
The SAP programming model contains a series of bundling techniques that allow you to group database updates together in logical units. The section of an R/3 application program that bundles a set of logically-associated database operations is called an SAP LUW. Unlike a database LUW, a SAP LUW includes all of the dialog steps in a logical unit, including the database update.
Happy Reading...
shibu

Activation error while changing the data type of a field of a table

hi friends,
i am facing one problem while changing a data type of a field of a table.
i just created one table(Yqm32) .i have assigned charcter data type to one field(ztotal_count) .now i want to change this charcter data type to numeric data type.
while changing to NUMC data type activation error is comming as below.
Table is not yet classified
Field ZTOTAL_COUNT: Type change
ALTER TABLE is not possible
Structure change at field level (convert table YQM32)
Check on table YQM32 resulted in errors
Table YQM32 could not be activated
(E- Structure change at field level (convert table YQM32)
plz suggest.i need to change the data type from char to numc.
Thanks & Regards

Hi Pabitra......
From the SE11 change the table as u wanted and then from menubar select
UTILITIES--> DATABASE UTILITY
It will open database utility
there u select the Activate and adjust database button.
then the database table will get adjusted.
just try it once.........
Suresh......

How do I change the order of columns in the responses table?

How do i change the order of columns in the responses table in FormsCentral? The default setting puts them in reverse order!

Hi,
The issue with the default ordering of columns in the response table is something that we hope to address in the next update to FormsCentral. In the meantime, you can reorder the columns by selecting them then click/drag using the gray area above the column name. As shown below, an orange marker will show you where the columns will be placed when you release the mouse button.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Regards,
Brian

Mif template problem with table formatting

I am trying to create a database driven Framemaker document via MIF. I have a problem trying to get my table formatting to work. The table tags and paragraph tags appear correctly in their respective designers but the values shown for font, shading, etc. are Frame defaults and not from my template unless I click on the tag drop down, reselect the same exact tag name and click apply. Any ideas on where I'm going wrong?
Here is a snippet of the MIF for the main file:
<MIFFile 7.10> # File created on 4/30/2009 3:03:36 PM
include (AFrames.mif)
include (Tbls.mif)
include (template.mif)
<TextFlow
<TFTag `A'>
<TFAutoConnect Yes>
<TFFeather No>
<TFMaxInterLine 3.0 pt>
<TFMaxInterPgf 10.0 pt>
<Para
<PgfTag `Anchor'>
<ParaLine
   <ATbl 500>
> # end of ParaLine
> # End of Para
etc.
And here is a sample from the Tbls.mif file:
<Tbls
<Tbl
<TblID 500>
<TblTag `Item Table'>
<TblFormat
    <TblWidth 3.50000">
    <TblColumn
     <TblColumnNum 0>
     <TblColumnWidth 0.50000">
    >
    <TblColumn
     <TblColumnNum 1>
     <TblColumnWidthP 1>
    >
    <TblColumn
     <TblColumnNum 2>
      <TblColumnWidthP 1>
    >
    <TblColumn
     <TblColumnNum 3>
     <TblColumnWidth 0.50000">
    >
> # End of Format
<TblNumColumns 4>
<TblH
<Row
<Cell
   <CellContent
    <Para
    <PgfTag `Cell Head Left'>
    <ParaLine
    <String `Item No.'>
etc.

The Monkey Butler wrote:
The include statements must appear in this order:
Put the template after the tables and the tables don't read the format.
Actually that does make sense to me (and I hate to say it, I remember now that I ran across this issue a million moons ago when first doing MIF export from a database).
In looking at the MIF includes order, in your first example:
include (AFrames.mif)
include (Tbls.mif)
include (template.mif)
all of the tables are being instantiated before FM has a chance to "analyze" the template section -- so there's no way it can say "aha, this is the FormatA that I already know" so that's why it puts the "star" on the format, indicating that it's an override to the table catalog format (and in fact there's no table format catalog yet, no table format names at all, so it's an "override to nothing" table.
In your successful document, the template includes the format for "FormatA", so when the tbls section comes along FM says "ah, ok, this is an instance of "FormatA" that I know already exists in the table catalog" so assuming there aren't any formatting changes in the instance of the table, it doesn't mark each table instance as a override to the named table format.
"include (aframes.mif)"
"Include (template.mif)"
"include (tbls.mmif)"

Table-driven combination categorization

I have a working report that has a gt_vbap internal table with only two columns; VBELN and MVGR3. A given order (VBELN) can have multiple rows in gt_vbap for a combination of kits (a MVGR3 code is used to represent each kit) that might be bought on each order.
(ex:)
VBELN         MVGR3
187037934     BKS
187037934
187037936     JBU
187037936
187037937     JBU
187037937
187037937     SLC
187037937     DGC
187037937     TOC
187037938     JBU
187037938
187037938     SLC
187037938     SPC
187037938     DGC
187037938     DTC
187037938     ORC
187037938     TOC
The report currently turns "on" a global variable flag for each MVGR3 that it finds per order and initializes the flags before the next VBELN set.
It then goes into a complex hard-coded IF THEN ELSE perform that has an IF clause for each possible combination of kits, using the flags to see which combination was ordered. That perform also assigns a NUMBER to that "group" or combination. That number is then used in another perform with hard-coded IF logic to give a unique NAME to the combination. To write the report, the number/name rows (or different combinations) then become aggregated for sales of different types.
The psuedo-code for all this is:
Clear each MVGR3 flag.
Loop at gt_vbap using field symbols to assign 'X' to flag for each found MVGR3.
At end of vbeln:
    perform get_group
    perform assign_description (takes the number from the group and gives a description)
    clear each MVGR3 flag.
ENDAT.
ENDLOOP.
FORM GET_GROUP
    (contains a separate IF clause for each possible combination of MVGR3 values
ENDFORM.
Edited by: Rob Burbank on Jun 16, 2010 3:45 PM

am trying to design a way to replace all that hard-coded IF logic in the performs with a new custom table containing the numbers (there are just over a hundred combinations, but this will grow), the names of the kit combinations, and the MVGR3 (material group 3) codes that make up each valid combination.
Something like this is what I was thinking of. Using a custom table will require less programming when valid kits are added or changed from our sales lineup.
z_kit_group_desc
Group     Desc              Col1     Col2     Col3     Col4     Col5     Col6     Col7
17           Only BKE     BKE
18             BKE plus     BKE     SLC
u2026
79             Large Group BKE        SLC     ORC     DGC     DTC     SPC
80           Big Group     BKE     SLC     ORC     DGC     DTC     SPC     TOC
Sorry for all that background, but here is the problem: How can I match up the internal table gt_vbap values for each VBLEN with the new custom table "z_kit_group_desc" (not yet defined) to give a number/description group to each ordered combination? I'm not sure how to find the proper row from my new custom table using the combination of rows from the internal table that make up the combinations on each order. Table gt_vbap MVGR3 values do not occur in any particular order, but are part of a finite combination.
Thank you!
Jeremy

Fillable tables in FormsCentral yet?

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