SAP: Troubleshooting QR codes in Smart Forms (and BWIPP barcodes)

Printing QR codes (or many other types of barcodes) in smartforms is possible by using the Barcode Writer in Pure Postscript.

Check out these blogs for further information and background to printing QRcodes/barcodes in SAP.
SDN Blog Barcode in SAP with the Barcode in Pure Postscript
Overview of BWIPP in SAP 


Two general issues have come up in printing QRcodes in smartforms. Both relate to the text intended for the barcode being shown on the page and the QRcode/barcode generated but blank (and unreadable). So I will cover the fix for both issues below.


1) Smartform Print contol missing.


As covered in the comments section of the SDN blog 



Check the raw format of the spool request. (send the print to the spool and not print immediately)

In SP01 when viewing your output requests, select on the menu screen, 'Goto' --> 'Display Requests' --> 'Settings', and select RAW format. and search for ZBW01 and ZBW02  then print control ZBW01 may not show up. For testing purposes swap out the device type and print controls for SAP standard and see if they appear.

The work around/fix was as follows.
In the smartform the setup was as below and did not create a proper barcode.
LOOP
..
.CELL
..PRINT CONTROL ZBW01
..TEXT FOR BARCODE
..PRINT CONTROL ZBW02

Turns out the missing print control occurs even with SAP standard print controls so is a smartform issue/feature and not related to the device type.

So the fix

Change to
LOOP
..
.CELL
..TEXT - empty / or blank lines to make room for the barcode
..PRINT CONTROL ZBW01
..TEXT FOR BARCODE
..PRINT CONTROL ZBW02

The above issue is normally only related to text boxes in a loop as standalone text boxes work as standard.




2) Format used in the text box for the barcode


There is a section in the SDN blog about "Identify the Text for the Barcode" so if I print the relevant section below.

"Standard formatted text can appear with the "s" command however sometimes especially if small text formatting is used other postscript procedures such as "w1" and "w2" appear. So any new form or output that requires a barcode should be output to a flat file. This is to check the file for the postscript formatting and commands used by SAP. This can be useful to note where to insert postscript commands via print controls (also for any trouble shooting). A tip for smartforms and sapscript is to search for lines with "<~" and "~>" as this signals ASCII85 encoded text. "

As the smartform will be converted to postscript then the way the smartforms text format is converted is vital to allow the barcode to be printed.

a) So lets start by creating a Windows frontend printer that prints purely text.
This will be used to create a text file of the SAP generated postscript.

Follow this note but use the QRcode/barcode device type 
 Note 576973 - Creating a file printer on a Windows PC

b) send the smartform to the new frontend printer. 
You will be prompted for a file location so enter c:\smart.ps for example (the full path must be entered).

c) open smart.ps and search for /s {bct exch ctxt  which is the start of print control ZBW01.

In your smartform there is some formatting to do with the width/size of the text so the normal postscript s command is not used and therefore the qrcode is not displayed correctly.

*NOTE, in the following example I will use postscript w1 and w2 as an example, the exact formatting may be different in your smartform, leave a comment and I will get back to you.

Here is an extract of some formatting I tested with a copy of the SF_EXAMPLE_01 smartform.


Screenshot of Smartform Formats used in a Text Box

Screenshot of the Postscript code generated by SAP for the smartform

*Note I have added the ASCII85 decoded text myself to show in this example.

Note the only line not using the postscript s command is the "small key word" text which uses the w1 and w2 postscript commands

The postscript commands w1 and w2 are used instead of the S command. Therefore to keep the formatting in the smartform we can add two new print controls.

d) Modify the QRcode/barcode device type in transaction SPAD.

Add print controls 

ADD TWO new print CONTROLS

ZBW90 = /w1 {bct} def \n/w2 {ctxt /bct exch def} def\n

ZBW91 = /w1 {SW 0 8#040} def \n/w2 {widthshow} def \n

e) Change the smartform to include the new print controls

..TEXT - empty / or blank lines to make room for the barcode
..PRINT CONTROL ZBW90
..TEXT FOR BARCODE
..PRINT CONTROL ZBW02
..PRINT CONTROL ZBW91

Basically the ZBW90 changes the W1 and W2 commands to allow the concatenation of the text.

ZBW02 is the same command to generate the QR code.

ZBW91 resets the W1 and W2 to SAP standard postscript.

f) Print the smartform to the original QRcode(barcode) printer.


Any comments let me know happy to help.