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Author's profile photo Melanie Reinwarth

Your Opinion On the Local Tab Order Feature

We, the SAP GUI team, would like to find out your opinion concerning the new Local Tab Order feature in SAP GUI:

  • For those who know the feature already, please, have a look at the corresponding poll.
  • For those who do not know the feature yet, but are interested to try it out, here a short introduction:

SAP screens often contain a variety of fields and other screen elements that are not necessary to fulfill a specific task. To make life easier for you, you can change the TAB sequence on SAP screens so that you do not have to ‘tab’ your way through the whole screen. The new TAB order functionality allows you to jump from one screen element to the next, thus creating a tab chain containing only fields of interest.

To use Local Tab Chain proceed as follows:             

On either a dynpro field, a radio button or a checkbox, use CTRL+RIGHT CLICK to invoke the extended context menu.

           In the extended menu, you find the following options:

    • Via “LOCAL TAB ORDER: From Field” you define a start field for a local tab order “jump”. After that select “LOCAL TAB ORDER: To Field” to define an end field for a local tab order “jump”.
    • Via “LOCAL TAB ORDER: Entry Point” and “LOCAL TAB ORDER: Exit Point” you can define entry and exit points for the dynpro area.
    • Using “Configure Local Tab Chain”, you can invoke a configuration dialog that shows your tab order definitions.
    • To visualize the complete tab chain on the screen (a mix of the original tab chain and your local changes) use “Visualize Local Tab Chain”.

          After trying this out, please, let us know more about your opinion in the corresponding poll.

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      10 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Simon Kemp
      Simon Kemp

      Hi Melanie Reinwarth

      This sounds like an interesting feature, I am a big fan of anything that can make the user's life a bit easier and more enjoyable in the SAPGUI. What I don't quite understand is this... Is this an end user task or an administrator task? Does it apply to a single user or all users in the system?

      I honestly can't see end users doing this - or even knowing it exists, since it is hidden by the CTRL+RIGHT-CLICK (very non-discoverable)

      Just wanted to give that feedback, Thanks,

      Simon

      Author's profile photo Melanie Reinwarth
      Melanie Reinwarth
      Blog Post Author

      Hello Simon,

      thanks for the feedback. Concerning your questions:

      • It is meant to be an aministrator/power user task.
      • It does not refer to all users in the system, but is local (client-dependent).
      • You can disable the option or set it read-only via registry (as shown in the following information taken out of the SAP GUI Administration Guide):

      Registry Values

      [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SAP\SAPGUI Front\SAP Frontend Server\LocalData]

      [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SAP\SAPGUI Front\SAP Frontend Server\LocalData] on 64bit operating systems

      DisableLocalTabChain(=1 means local tab order disabled)

      LocalTabOrderReadOnly” (=1 means local tab order read-only)

      • And you can create a shortcut, so that you do not have to use CTRL+RIGHT-CLICK.

      Best regards,

      Mel

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Is it just me, or does this seem way too complicated.  Why not just allow the coding of tab order in the dialog screen element list?

      Author's profile photo Olson Matt
      Olson Matt

      Melanie, but saying that it is meant to be an administrator task, and the fact that we can set in the registry to make the LocalTabOrderReadOnly, does that mean we can have an administrator set the local tab order, and then roll that out to all user's machines and have the provided tab order be set for them, but unchangeable by them?

      Author's profile photo Melanie Reinwarth
      Melanie Reinwarth
      Blog Post Author

      Yes, this is how it works.

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      What might the problem be if a user does not get the menu upon CTRL + R-CLICK???

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Melanie,

      In general this is very usefull for us.

      But we are facing some problems when it comes to VA01 / table control.

      It seems that the tab has some effet but does not work like expected.

      VA01 start screen is working fine.

      Is there a limitation? Any ideas suggestions appreciated.

      Regards,

      Thomas

      Author's profile photo Melanie Reinwarth
      Melanie Reinwarth
      Blog Post Author

      Hello Thomas,

      to be able to see what exactly the problem is, it would be best if you open a ticket under component BC-FES-GUI.

      Best regards,

      Melanie

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hello Melanie,

      I did (260998/2016) but the response is not helping us at all.

      So for now I would consider this function as useless when it comes to tables.

      Regards,

      Thomas

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Dear Melanie,

      Just a short update: The issue mentioned above will be fixed with next SAP GUI Patch (see note 2318974 for details).

      Regards,

      Thomas

      2318974