HCM Processes and Forms: My little understanding on “Field Attributes”

After getting inspired from one of Christopher Solomon’s masterpiece –

http://scn.sap.com/community/erp/hcm/blog/2009/06/22/hcm-processes-forms-required-fields-arent-what-they-use-to-be , I decided to put down my simple thoughts  about one of the similar topic – “Field Attributes”. Every field configured using HCM P& F Design Time(HRASR_DT) would have various field attributes as shown below –

In this blog shall walk through few of these field attributes. The attributes – “Invisible”, “Output Only”, “Can be Edited” are pretty straight forward. (So I don’t have to explain in it detail about these attributes). Let me start with the remaining field attributes.

Automatic ( Step Relevance )

SAP Help(Fortunately I found some useful information by pressing F1) says –

The property of the field on the form is automatically set by assigning the field to scenario steps. You must use an appropriate UI control that dynamically controls the property of the field for the form. The following apply:

• If the field is assigned to the scenario step being processed, it receives the Editable attribute.

• If the field is not assigned to the scenario step being processed, but is relevant (because it was assigned to a previously processed scenario step), it receives the Display Only attribute.

• If the field is not assigned to the scenario step being processed, and is not relevant (because it was not assigned to a previously processed scenario step), it receives the Invisible attribute.

Scenario –

Let’s say you have 10 fields in your form and two Scenario steps say Initiator and Approver. Requirement is – Display first 5 fields only when the Approver opens the form. And display all 10 fields when Approver opens the form.

Solution –

Add first five fields to the Scenario Step – INITIATOR and add all ten fields to the Scenario Step – APPROVER.

Interesting Observation –

After adding these 10 fields(first two fields under Group1, next 3 fields under Group2, next 3 fields under Group3 and last 2 fields under Group4) to the FPM Form, I saw an interesting observation i.e. When the Initiator opens with Scenario Step-INITIATOR, along with fields even the groups are hidden automatically(Along with Field6, Field7, Field8, Field9 and Field10; Group3 and Group4 are hidden).

Step Dependent

SAP help says –

The property of the field on the form is defined depending on scenario step. You must use an appropriate UI control that dynamically controls the property of the field for the form.

By making a field attribute as “Step Dependent”, you get an ability to set the field attribute at each scenario step as shown below –

Scenario –

Let’s say you have 10 fields in your form and two Scenario steps say Initiator and Approver. Requirement is – Display first 5 fields only when the Approver opens the form. And display all 10 fields when Approver opens the form.

Solution –

Add all ten fields to the Scenario Step – INITIATOR and add all ten fields to the Scenario Step – APPROVER. In the Scenario Step – INITIATOR set the “Step Attribute” for first five fields as “Editable” and set the “Step Attribute” for the next ten fields as “Invisible”; In the Scenario Step – APPROVER set the “Step Attribute” for the all ten fields as “Editable”.

Interesting Observation –

After adding these 10 fields(first two fields under Group1, next 3 fields under Group2, next 3 fields under Group3 and last 2 fields under Group4) to the FPM Form, I saw an interesting observation. When the Initiator opens with Scenario Step-INITIATOR, along with fields even the groups are hidden automatically(Along with Field6, Field7, Field8, Field9 and Field10; Group3 and Group4 are hidden).

Service UI Attribute

SAP Help says

Apart from the above fixed attributes, new UI attributes related to any of the following services can also be displayed:

• Personnel Administration (PA)

• Personnel Development (PD)

• Personnel Time (PT)

• General Services (GS)

However, only one attribute can be assigned to a field. These service UI attributes are available only for the FPM fom type.

Of course the latest Field Attribute in the pack(Introduced in EHP6), this is my personal favorite in the list. Of course being a developer I would love to have the UI Attribute controlled using coding. When you set the field attribute as Generic Service, this property can be controlled using the Generic service class methods – INITIATLIZE and DO_OPERATIONS.

Scenario –

Let’s say you have 10 fields in your form of which the 9 fields are always visible and the tenth field is visible based on value entered in Field9.

Solution –

Set the UI attribute for first 9 fields as “Can be Edited”, and for the tenth field set the UI Attribute as “Generic Service”. Control the UI Attribute for the tenth field using the Generic Service class  in DO_OPERATION method.

Thanks & shall take any questions if any !