Functions
Accessing Functions
Functions may be accessed in a variety of ways in the R/3 System. They may be called by
- menus
- function keys or the function key menu
- pushbuttons, either in the standard toolbar, the application toolbar or by pushbuttons directly placed on the screen
- access characters (in the menus)
- fastpaths (sequences of access characters entered in the command field)
You define in the Menu Painter where a function is placed in the menu and how it can be accessed. If you do this according to your "personal taste", you may confuse the users. They rely on the correct placement and access mechanisms, because not only your application follows the guidelines described in this book, but practically every R/3 application as well.
Look out for some pitfalls, however:
- some functions do not appear in the menus, because this makes no sense
- access characters have to be unique within one pull-down menu
- the order of the functions in the application toolbar has to be observed
- some functions have function key directly "tied" to them, while others may be assigned to arbitrary functions keys; still others have no function key at all
In addition, there are a number of general questions that need to be answered, when you design the general menu structure and consider how the user can access functions:
- Which application-specific functions should be placed into the application toolbar for easy access?
- How well can the demand for a stable task menu bar be fulfilled? This is especially critical when parts from other developers are included in your own task.
- Are the function names intuitive? Will users know what they stand for? This is in particular important for rarely used functions!
- Which application functions can be represented by standard functions?
- How should the pull-down menus be structured, when there are lots of application functions to be put into?
These questions demand some experience with the issues involved. Some of them can only be resolved in close contact with end users. This way you make sure that a consistent user interface can be established across related tasks and applications.
Source: SAP R/3 Style Guide