Symbols and Control commands

Symbols are placeholders for values that are inserted during print formatting.

Symbols are indentified by name surrounded by "&" and are not case sensitive

1. Types of symbols
2. Formatting
3. Control commands


1. Types of symbols

System symbols

DATE Date
DAY Day
NAME_OF_DAY Name of day
MONTH Month
YEAR Year
TIME Time
HOURS Hours
MINUTES Minutes
SECONDS Seconds
PAGE Page number
NEXTPAGE Number of next pagre

DEVICE Output device
SPACE Blank space
ULINE Underline
VLINE Vertical line



Standard symbols

Standard symbols are user defined and are maintained in table TTDG. You use transaction SM30 to change or display standard symbols.

An examples of standard symbols is &MFG& fot "Yours faithfully"

Standard text

Se also Using Graphics

Standard texts is predifined texts that can be used in more than one form. Standard texts are can be created, changed and displayed using transaction SO10.

The text ID is used to classify texts.

To include a standard text in a form, use the INCLUDE command:

/: INCLUDE Z_BC460_EX4_HF OBJECT TEXT ID SDVD


When formatting the standard text the PARAGRAPH parameter is used. To center the text use:


/: INCLUDE <name> <Parameter>

<parameter> = Object, ID, Language, Paragraph

Example:

/: INCLUDE Z_BC460_EX4_HF OBJECT TEXT ID SDVD LANGUAGE EN PARAGRAPH C.


Name: Z_BC460_EX4_HF

Object: Text

Text id: SDVD (Text id from SO10)

Language: EN

Paragraph: C (Centered)

Tip: You can use menu Insert->Text->Standard to make it easier to insert the text



Program symbols

Program symbols are for contents of database fields or global program symbols. When you print the form, data from the database tables are printed isntead of the symbols.

In the print program:

TABLES: kna1.

In the form:

&KNA1-NAME1&



2. Formatting


&SYMBOL& No formatting
&SYMBOL+4& Offset - Output begins here. Offset refers to formatted value
&SYMBOL(5)& Length - Output data in the specified length

&SYMBOL(I)& Suppress initial value - If the field has been initialized, nothing is output
&SYMBOL(Z)& Suppress leading zeros
&SYMBOL(C)& Compress blank spaces - Consecutice spaces are compressed into a single space. Leading spacesare suppressed.
&SYMBOL(R)& Right align output
&SYMBOL(S)& Operators are suppressed
&SYMBOL(*)& Dictionary length - The data length is defined by the ABAP dictionary
&SYMBOL(8.2)& Decimal format. Length 8 decimals 2
&'text1'SYMBOL'text2'& Text can be inserted before and after the symbol



3. Control commands

Control command are used to modify text output. Use format key /: in the format column.


/: INCLUDE
/: DEFINE
/: ADDRESS....ENDADDRESS

/: PROTECT.....ENDPROTECT
/: NEW-PAGE
/: IF....ENDIF
/: CASE...ENDCASE



Examples of control commands
INCLUDE

INCLUDE name <parameter>

Parameters:

OBJECT E.g. TEXT, DOKU (Document), DSYS (Hypertext).
ID Text ID -Text ID is a way to group texts - Se transaction SO10
LANGUAGE If the parameter is not specefied, the logon language will be used
PARAGRAPH The text to be included is formatted using the style allocated. The PARAGRAPH parameter can be used to redefine the standard paragraph for this style for the current call. All *-paragraphs in the included text will then be formatted using the paragraph specified here.

Object
ID
Language
Paragraph

Standard texts are maintained in transaction SO10.

Example 1:

You have created a standard text in SO10 Named MYTEXT and with Text Id ST

/: INCLUDE MYTEXT OBJECT text ID st

Example 2:

You can also use a dynamic name so that you can retreive a ext depeding of the name variable:

/: INCLUDE &SCUSTOM-NAME& text ID st.

Depending on the name in the variable &SCUSTOM-NAME& different texts will be shown. Note that a text with the name in the variable &SCUSTOM-NAME& name must be created in SO10.



DEFINE

/: DEFINE &SYMBOL& = 'String1 String2'

/: DEFINE &CUST& = '00000021'.

ADDRESS-ENDDRESS

The ADDRESS-ENDADDRESS command formats addresses according to the postal norms of the recipient's country, as defined in the
country parameter.

/: ADDRESS DELIVERY PARAGRAPH AD
/: NAME &KNA1-NAME&

/: STREET &KNA1-STRAS&
/: POSTCODE &KNA1-PSTLZ&
/: CITY &KNA1-ORT01&
/: COUNTRY &KNA1-LAND1&
/: FROMCOUNTRY 'DE'
/: ENDADDRESS



Time Date and decimal format

Examples:

/: SET TIME MASK = 'HH:MM'
/: SET DATE MASK = 'DD.MMMM.YYYY'
/: SET COUNTRY 'USA'

PROTECT-ENDPROTECT

Is used to avoid pagebreaks in a paragraph. The text lines to be protected are enclosed between the two commands. If there is not enough room on the page, the PROTECT command acts as a NEW-PAGE command and inserts a page break.

/: PROTECT
:
:
/: ENDPROTECT

5. Conditonal text ouput IF - ENDIF and CASE - ENDCASE

You can use IF/ENDIF and CASE/ENDCASE like in a normal ABAP program

/: IF condition
:
:
/: ENDIF

and

/: IF condition
:
/: ELSE
:
/: ENDIF


Example:

/: IF &SPFLI-CITYTO& = "BERLIN"
* ..... put some text here
/: ENDIF

/: CASE <something>
/: WHEN <...>
/: ENDCASE