Important Note: The information provided in this blog entry is obsolete now. Please refer to the wiki page Additional Attributes in the Attachment List and the SAP Knowledge Article 1513057 for updated information about this functionality.
The Generic Object Services (GOS) attachment list offers only a limited set of ArchiveLink document attributes. Sometimes this is not sufficient to correctly determine the content of an attachment, especially as the title of stored documents can be ambiguous. The SAP standard functionality only allows showing the ArchiveLink document type description in the title field of the attachment list:
This clearly shows a necessity to include a meaningful description to every document, or at least to have the possibility to display the original file name in the attachment list. This is why SAP has decided to extend the functionality of the GOS attachment list to include more attributes to easily identify the stored documents. This new functionality will be delivered in two parts, which are described below.
Recently, the developer responsible for the GOS has released the SAP Note 1560955 which adds the 'Filename' attribute to the attachment list. This note is valid for attachments uploaded via 'Create Attachment', so ArchiveLink documents (uploaded via 'Store Business Document') are not affected by this advance development.
At the same time, the ArchiveLink developers have created the SAP Note 1451769 to add this functionality to ArchiveLink documents. This note contains an advance development and it has a 'Pilot' status, meaning that it is not formally released and that it is being tested with selected customers, so it is not visible in the SAP Service Marketplace.
This is how the attachment list looks like with the note implemented:
However, there are scenarios like storing incoming documents using barcodes and/or workflow where ArchiveLink is not designed to store/display these file attributes (file name, creator name). Hence, this enhancement is only applicable in manual storing scenarios and display through GOS scenario.
The new functionality is available as of SAP Basis Release 700 as an advance development, but due to the high number of requests, we have decided to further test it with more customers in order to release it as standard functionality as of SAP Basis Release 731, but this depends on the quality assurance results. So, please leave a comment below in case you are interested in having this new functionality in your system. We will be accepting a few testers who have to commit to provide feedback to SAP regarding this development.
There are a few things to consider before importing this note into your system:
- The functionality is delivered as an advance development, so make sure you read the SAP Note 170272 first.
- Make sure you read the GOS note 1560955 as well, since this is a prerequisite for the ArchiveLink note.
- The advance development is available for the following versions only:
- Release 700 From SAPKB70019
- Release 701 From SAPKB70104
- Release 702 All Support Package levels
- There are no plans to extend this development to any other release.
*** UPDATE: July 14, 2011 ***
After a successful testing phase, the note 1451769 has been released for all customers now. All customers will be able to download and implement the note via SNOTE only. Thanks to those who participated in the testing phase.
*** UPDATE: August 9, 2012 ***
The note is currently unavailable due to quality maintenance. The functionality will remain the same. The estimated date of release is end of August, 2012.
*** UPDATE: January 16, 2013 ***
The blog entry is now obsolete. Refer to the wiki page Additional Attributes in the Attachment List for updated information about this functionality. Comments for the blog entry are closed.
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