What are smart forms?

SAP Smart Forms are used to create and maintain forms for mass printing in SAP
Systems. As output medium SAP Smart Forms support a printer, a fax, e-mail, or the
Internet (by using the generated XML output).

How are Smart Forms different from SAPscripts?

 The main difference is that, the flow (viz., when, which windows/text elements
are to be printed) in SAPscripts is controlled by the driver program, but in Smart
Forms, the flow logic is entirely incorporated in the form itself. The driver
program retrieves data from Database and sends it at one go to the Smart Form
through a function module (which is generated when a Smart Form is activated).
So, calling a smart form from a driver program boils down to calling a function
module. Database tables can be accessed from the form also.
 Also, ABAP code can be written in Smart Forms; basically they can be used as
though they are function modules, in defining local variables, subroutines, etc.
Thus, Smart Forms can be run by just executing the concerning function module,
without being called from a driver program (thus, they can be of stand-alone
type). But writing DB selection codes in a form should be avoided as, it increases
over-head, especially in the case of batch printing.

 There are some more minor differences like, instead of standard texts, text
modules can be used in Smart Forms. Also, graphic object can be included
directly in smart forms. These graphic objects can be maintained through the
transaction, SE78. Address can be printed by just using the corresponding address
number (if the central Address system is being maintained), and the format of it is
automatically taken care of, based on the value given for country field.

 The system variables, which were available in SAPscripts aren't in Smart Forms.
Different set of system variables is used. (for printing date, page no., etc).

 Any field inside a smart form accepts variables, instead of just hard-coded values.
For example, the name of the text module to be used, name of the graphic to be
printed, etc can be determined dynamically during run-time.
 Boxes and frames can be incorporated by just clicking at few check-boxes.
 Use of 'tabs', those ubiquitous pair of commas is almost redundant in Smart
Forms, as the same functionality can be better achieved by using line types inside
a template or a table node.
Process involved in the system while converting
smartform to pdf
When a Smart Form is migrated, the following objects are generated:
● Interface
● Form
The interface of the PDF-based form consists of the interface itself and the global
definitions of the Smart Form. The interface includes:
● Import parameters
● Export parameters
● Table parameters
● Exceptions
● Global data
● Types
● Field symbols
 ● Initialization (ABAP)
● Form routines (ABAP)
● Currency/quantity fields
The form object of the PDF-based form contains the subtree Pages and Windows of the
navigation tree of the Smart Form, and consists of two parts:
● Context
Data is migrated into the context (loops, folders, and data-specific prerequisites, for
example).
● Screen layout
The formatting is migrated into the layout