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No batch input data for screen SAPMF05A 1001 is a common message experienced by the consumers of FB50 scripts developed by someone else with different editing options set in the SAP GUI but how do you handle this problem and what are some of the ways you can head off other errors like this?
Many of us, particularly in the continental US, have heard this message at some time or another. This kind of message is common when you're attempting to dial internationally or at a busy time on the mobile phone network. It is a peculiar message, particularly since some carriers will follow it with a cryptic call out of some message number. I don't think any of us bother to note those down, we simply try again later and if we still have issues we know the problem is more complex than network overload or fat fingered integers.  Error handling and detection is what is often referred to as the negative use case. It is an unwanted outcome that needs to be handled and accordingly tested in your QA cycles in order for us to understand whether we handle the unwanted or unexpected in our scripts.

I always suggest that when recording a script for a given transaction code, that you take the most complex of scenarios with the most number of exceptions as the starting point. This invariably will mean that you have to do less manual editing of your script to handle other combinations, but I often wonder if this really makes sense because some scenarios can be incredibly complex? Sometimes it is better to simply sort your data up front and have multiple scripts.

Folks who have used Winshuttle Transaction for some time now and especially those that have been using earlier, more primitive versions, have become quite adept at error trapping, handling and avoidance in their scripts using a combination of the inherent features like Skip Screen if not found or using IF conditions with conditions based on the data in their data sources but this can be tedious and sometimes lead to unexpected complexities.

As you will know, Transaction is not a programming tool but it does support some programming like functionality and it sits very squarely between something that can be used to great effect by a developer or technologist as well as by a regular business user who simply know how to use SAP. Understanding the screens and having an intimate understanding of the kinds of data and the types of behaviors in the SAP application that one is likely to experience is critical for good SAP transaction recording. I have seen some people do some quite incredible things with Transaction scripts and Excel macros in their workbooks and over the coming months, hope to share some of these with you either through  the new Winshuttle Community website or in this blog.

In Product Management at Winshuttle we are also working on the new features for Version 11 which is scheduled for late 2011, some of the things that we're hoping to get  improvements in, are things like that horrible FB50 "No batch input data for screen SAPMF05A 1001" message that many of you will be familiar with. This is an error that is generated by your script not coping with the Accounting Editing Options settings being variable between different users.  We've attempted to resolve that with the Skip Screen features but it seems it has resulted in variable success for different customers and is not that useful if you didn't record your script using a negative use case to start with (you basically have nothing to skip because nothing appeared).  Consider further, that this again, is one of those instances where I would recommend you doing your recording based on a negative use case irrespective of whether you have Default Company Code proposal enabled or not for yourself personally. By incorporating the potential of the window pop-up for company code input and ensuring the script can handle it accordingly, you resolve unwanted errors for users who have the company code set by making sure that your script is designed to handle either scenario.