Fergus Nolan

SAP ABAP / WM Consultant with RF

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RF*GENIE

SAPconsole development tool

RF*GENIE Features

RF*GENIE by Fergus Nolan is a suite of SAPconsole utilities that automate the solution to the SAPconsole ergonomic problem. It addresses every ergonomic requirement listed in the ergonomics page which can be automated. It does it using professional software engineering standards to provide an enjoyable and productive experience for SAPconsole programmers and RF users in the warehouse.

Error Message. An error message function with optional popup-question features is supplied, together with additional utility functions. The message makes the screen beep according to an installation-wide default and according to the error message type. It automatically detects screen size.

Defaulting Mechanism. A defaulting mechanism is supplied, with overrides at the installation, application and user levels, hookup to the user parameter feature and optional user exit override. It provides flexible defaulting behaviors which can easily be extended into the application area.

Screen Manager provides automated screen management. It interfaces with the SAP screen painter and provides all the screen control features, such as inactive input field and function key suppression, automated F2-Clear functionality, field disablement on the fly and others mentioned in the ergonomics page.
It requires a SINGLE CALL which has only two optional parameters and the same PBO module can usually be used by all the screens in the program. Hundreds of lines of intricate housekeeping code bite the dust. The only other PBO code you need is a module to copy and format the output screen data.
The optional parameters allow a screen to start at a field other than the first. The user can then use F2 to back up and change earlier fields if needed. The second optional parameter allows the screen to be presented in edit mode, rather than the default data entry mode. The edit mode supports the display of all filled fields, and the user can use the <enter> key to skip through the fields and make changes if needed.
This feat is made possible by a little trick performed in the screen painter, which is very simple but unique to RF*GENIE, and I am not going to reveal how it is done until I see a contract.

List Manager provides a persistent list mechanism which automates list processing into a single recallable function. It supports lists of one, two or three lines, with or without selection and with or without exit key. Create your table data and call the function, receive back the index of the selected line, couldn't be simpler. Steploop coding overhead is eliminated.

All this code is application-independent. It is SAPconsole code only. All code is pseudo-object-oriented and is mutually aware. All the other functions, for instance, can obtain the screen size from the defaulting function. All the code is stateful, so it remembers its state between calls.

RF*GENIE takes away all the housekeeping functionality and many of the global variables from a SAPconsole program. Your TOP include only needs to have screen layouts, global selections screen lists, and data waiting to be saved. Code is only needed for (PBO) fetch of screen values and (PAI) code for function keys and for input field 'ON REQUEST' modules. PAI code is not needed for F2-Clear processing and for function keys in list screens, which are automated. Various additional utility functions and forms are provided, and an overall program organization which provides standard GUI (PF key definitions) and a module to provide a separate place for initializations. Both screen sizes are automatically supported throughout.

RF*GENIE is the application of standard software engineering standards to the SAPconsole ergonomic considerations. It enforces consistency and saves programming time. That's all it does, but it does it beautifully and simply, and leaves the programmer free to concentrate on his data access strategy and making the right updates.