Chapter 06 printing sap script forms

Editor's Notes

• #4: Where should it be printed? Which output device should it be printed on? How many copied should be printed? One OR Multiple When should it be printed? On demand Batch mode Specified time Immediately after saving the document What medium should it be “printed” on? Printout Fax EDI Workflow etc.
• #5: At what level should the information be stored? SAP document What types of status should be captured? Was it correctly processed? How many times was it processed?
• #6: In order to print a form, you have to understand a little bit about the output type determination configuration. You will not necessarily have to know how to configure it, but you’ll need to understand what aspects (e.g. timing, output device) of the printing can be controlled through the configuration. Output type defines when, to where, and how to print the form. The output types are proposed for SAP documents via configuration and can be over-ridden. To get to the detail screen which allows you to define the timing of the output, click on “Further data” button. To get to the detail screen which allows you to define which output device to print to, click on “Communication method” button.
• #7: Many of SAP forms are designed to be triggered by “event”. For example, you can configure it so that the saving (event) of the document can trigger the automatic printing of the form. There are 4 different triggering events 1. Send with periodically scheduled job The message is processed through report program RSNAST00. This report program can be scheduled periodically or started manually. 2. Send with job, with additional time specification Same as 1, but the message contains an earliest processing date and a requested processing time. The message is ignored by report program RSNAST00 before the requested date 3. Send with application own transaction The message is selected and processed by application specific programs. Processing can take place online or in the background. 4. Send Immediately (When saving the application) The message is processed when the application document is saved. No further processing of the message is necessary.
• #8: Output will be generated and issued to the specified printer when triggered by their respective events. It is assumed that the output type which contains the timing information will also contain the correct device to print.
• #9: Specify the name of the physical output device name. Enter the number of copies to be printed in the “Number of message” field. Specified number of copies will be printed to the same device at the same time. Note: In order to print two identical copies, each to a different printer, you must set up a separate output type. Each of these output types should specify different output device name even though they are configured to print the same form. Click on “Print immediately” indicator to have the output come out immediately upon triggering events. If this indicator is not turned on, the output will only be generated in the spool format until it is manually released. Click on “Release after output” indicator to release the printed form from the spool. If this indicator is not turned on, the spool will not be deleted from the system even after the form was physically printed.
• #10: Available choices for the Output medium are: 1 Printout - Printer (laser, impact) 2 Fax 3 Teletex 4 Telex 6 EDI 7 SAP office 8 Special function- Exit to a ABAP routine 9 Workflow events A Distribution (ALE) T Workflow: Task Available choices for the Processing status are: 0 Not processed 1 Successfully processed 2 Incorrectly processed 3 Not active
• #11: Initially all unprocessed output types have status = 0. Once the output was successfully printed, the status will be updated to 1. Once the status is updated to 1 or 2, the same output type cannot be used again unless you follow the procedure on the slide titled “Repeating output”. Note: This indicator is especially important for those output types with timing = 1.
• #12: You may preview the output on the screen before printing by following the procedure. Bring up the document you want to print in either change or display mode. There are two options at this point. Sales document > Issue > output to > Print Sales document > Issue > output to > Print Preview Selecting the Printer option will only work if you have an output type defined with timing of 3 (Send with application own transaction) Selecting the Print preview option will work regardless of what timing the output type has been defined with, as long as there exists a default output type (proposed by output type determination configuration) Overwrite any information (e.g. output type, device name) and confirm.
• #14: Those documents with output types which are defined to print with Dispatch time = 1, are to be printed collectively. Therefore, when a document with such output type is saved, nothing happens until at later time when a triggering program RSNAS00 is manually launched. The program RSNAST00 loops through all documents that are between the specified number ranges (object key) contain the specified output type the output type has not been processed (status = 0) Note: The object key is the document number. It must be specified in 10 digits (padded with preceding 0’s if necessary) In normal day to day operation, you do not have to specify the document number ranges. By not specifying the number range, the system will evaluate ALL documents that meet the above criteria and print the ones that haven’t been printed since the last collective run. Once the collective run finishes the status of all the documents that have been printed will be updated.
• #15: Once the document has been successfully printed, you must follow the following procedures to reprint the same form (except Dispatch time = 3). Enter the document in change mode Select the output type that has already been successfully printed which you wish to print again. Click on “Repeat output” button This will generate an identical entry of the same output type. Select the new entry and change any data if necessary. Proceed to trigger printing the same way as before. List of output types shows the history of when and how many times the form was generated to which output device. Understanding how this “log” works is essential in deducing the user error.