Preface – This post is part of the ABAP Beginner series.

Introduction

When a Smart Form is created, the form builder already has two nodes in the Navigation window. “Global Settings” and “Pages and Windows” are the two roots that are created by default for every Smart Form.  In this article we will explore more about Node Types in SAP SmartForms.

Nodes in SAP SmartForms

The inferior nodes of the Global Settings are used to maintain Form Attributes, Form Interface, and Global Settings.

The inferior nodes of the Pages and Windows are used to create pages of the form, position elements on the pages, and determine the flow of the process of the elements.

Each sub-node of the two root nodes has attributes. These attributes are maintained in the Maintenance Window. The attributes that can be maintained are General Attributes, Output Options and Conditions are the same for almost every type of the nodes.

• General Attributes shows the general description of the node.
• Output Options contain properties such as Positions, Style, Box and Shading. It may have additional options depending on the position of the node.
• Conditions allow the processing of the node only if the conditions are true.

Node Types in SAP SmartForms

Let’s discuss the types of nodes:

1. Output Areas:

2. Elementary Nodes:

3. Table Outputs:

4. Flow Control: