Example
In transaction VA03 the header texts are shown via a tree control. The user clicks on a tree node to see the corresponding text, or an empty area if no header text of this type exists:

VA03 Standard header text display      Click to enlarge


Instead, we want to present all existing texts immediately:

Our new text display      Click to enlarge

Video

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The implementation is a little bit more complex than one would expect, since the SAP tree structure is somewhat complicated: The tree node content is different depending on whether no text, one text or more than one text - in different languages - exists for a particular text type.

To display the texts we embed an HTML control into SAP GUI. This allows us to design a user friendly layout using CSS options in HTML. Enhancements such as choosing  different background colors for different text types can easily be added if required.

• Alternatively we can use pure GuiXT means, namely dynamically generated text boxes. This requires more GuiXT coding and restricts the layout possibilities to standard SAP GUI.
• Instead of reading the various texts via the VA03 sceens we can read them with a BAPI Call, e.g. "BAPISDORDER_GETDETAILEDLIST". This is faster but requires extra  programming effort to convert the SAP text format into a displayable format and to read the text name for each text type. 

GuiXT Script  "sapmv45a.e4002.txt"

// clear all transaction specific GuiXT variables
// if new transaction or order number changed
if not V[tc.transactionid=&V[_transactionid]] or not V[tc.vbeln=&F[VBAK-VBELN]]
  Clear V[tc.*]
  Clear text[tc.*]
  Set V[tc.transactionid] "&V[_transactionid]"
  Set V[tc.vbeln] "&F[VBAK-VBELN]"
endif

if Q[Transaction=VA03] and Q[Page=Texts]

 // read all header texts if not yet done
  if not V[tc.header_texts_read]
    Set V[tc.header_texts_read] "X"
    Enter process="read_header_texts.txt"
    Stop script
  endif

  // delete SAP splitter container, with tree and text controls
  del X[SPLITTER_CONTAINER]

  // delete all buttons below the text control, starting with the "Create" button
  del P[Create] P[Create]+(0,200)

 // now display the texts using an HTML control
 Box (5,2) (30,147) "Header texts"
 Control (5.7,3) (29.8,147.3) _
      progID="about:blank" _
      name="va03.control.headertexts"

 // call up a VB function which generates the HTML document
 CallVB utilities.VA03.DisplayTexts "&V[va03.control.headertexts]"

endif

InputScript  "read_header_texts.txt" 

// Init text display in VB class
CallVBAsync utilities.VA03.InitTextDisplay

// Intialize text index and reset language variable
Set V[k] 0
Clear V[textlanguage]

// SAP header text display
Screen sapmv45a.4002

  // read whole text tree into a GuiXT text variable
  CallVBAsync guinet.treecontrol.copytext textName:="tc.headertexts" delimiter:=";"

  Enter

// Repeat the next screen for each existing text
label read_text
Screen sapmv45a.4002

  // Display a title, since this can last a few seconds if many texts exist
  Title "Reading header texts..."

 // text language set? then add the text in VB class
  if V[textlanguage]
      // add text
     CallVBAsync utilities.VA03.AddText
               "&V[nodekey]" "&V[texttitle]" "&V[textlanguage]"
  endif

  // identify all text ids for which a text exists
  label check_next_text

  // next index in tree
  Set V[k] &V[k] + 1

  // copy line from GuiXT variable that represents the tree
  CopyText fromText="tc.headertexts" toString="wa" line="&V[k]"

  if Q[ok]

    // the various parts that describe the tree node
    // are separated by ";"
    // we use copytext to split the line into these parts
    CopyText fromString="wa" toText="watext"
    CopyText fromText="watext" toString="nodekey" line=1 delimiter=";"
    CopyText fromText="watext" toString="nodelevel" line=2 delimiter=";"
    CopyText fromText="watext" toString="colA" line=4 delimiter=";"
    CopyText fromText="watext" toString="colB" line=5 delimiter=";"

    // depending on node level the content is different
    if V[nodelevel=0]
      // no text or, if language is set, one text
      Set V[texttitle] "&V[colA]"
      Set V[textlanguage] "&V[colB]"
   else
      // more than one language
      Set V[textlanguage] "&V[colA]"
  endif

  // text exists?
  if V[textlanguage]
    // select this tree node to display the text
    CallVBAsync guinet.TreeControl.SelectNodeByKey key:="&V[nodekey]"
    Enter

    // repeat this Screen block to read the text from screen and process
    // the next tree node
    goto read_text

  else
    // no text of this type, try next tree node
    goto check_next_text
  endif

 endif

 // we are done and can display the texts n the HTML control
 Enter

Public Class va03

    ' list of VA03 header texts
    Private headertexts As New List(Of Longtext)

    ' initialize
    Public Function InitTextDisplay()
        headertexts.Clear()

        Return "X"
    End Function

    ' add one header text
    Public Function AddText(ByVal id As String, _
                     ByVal title As String, ByVal language As String)

        ' new longtext object
        Dim lt As New Longtext
        lt.id = id
        lt.title = title
        lt.language = language

        ' read text from text control
        Dim tc As New guinet.TextControl
        lt.text = tc.GetText("")

        ' add text
        headertexts.Add(lt)

        ' done
        Return "X"

    End Function

    Public Function DisplayTexts(wb As SHDocVw.WebBrowser)


        ' set suitable CSS style for whole area
        Dim s As String = "
"

        ' add HTML for all texts
        For Each lt As Longtext In headertexts
            s &= lt.ToHtml
        Next

        ' no text at all? then display message
        If headertexts.Count = 0 Then
            s &= "

No texts available"
        End If

        ' ending DIV
        s &= "
"

        ' now load the HTML into the web browser control
         Dim doc As mshtml.HTMLDocumentClass = wb.Document
        doc.body.innerHTML = s
        ' done
        Return "X"

    End Function

End Class

' VA03 long text
Public Class Longtext

    Public id As String
    Public language As String
    Public title As String
    Public text As String

    '  longtext as HTML box 
    Public Function ToHtml() As String

        ' encode in HTML format and replace carriage-return with 

        Dim htmltext As String = _
           System.Net.WebUtility.HtmlEncode(text).Replace(vbCr, "
")
        Dim htmltitle As String = 
           System.Net.WebUtility.HtmlEncode(title)

        ' choose suitable CSS style to display the text box
        Dim s As String
        s = "
"
        s &= "" & htmltitle & " (" & language & ")
" _
                                      & htmltext & "
"

        Return s
    End Function

End Class

• Microsoft Internet Controls  COM  Interop.SHDOCVw.dll
• Microsoft.mshtml .NET Microsoft.shtml.dll  (do not embed interop types)
   

Components
InputAssistant + Controls