Grey Haired ABAP

How-to: Stay relevand

By Tom Van Doorslaer

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Agenda

WebDynpro

NWBC BSP

Why this session?

ABAP

Gateway

SAPUI5

Agenda

WebDynpro

NWBC BSP

Why this session?

ABAP

Gateway

SAPUI5

Why are we having this discussion, again?

This is what SAP marketing keeps telling you

Why are we having this discussion, again?

In there, SAP talks about

Fiori

Screen Personas

In some rare cases they also mention

NetWeaver Business client

Why are we having this discussion, again?

But most of the time they completely forget about

WebDynpro For ABAP

Business Server Pages

BSP

BAPI’s

And everything else

Why are we having this discussion, again?

The result is:

Worried customers

Worried ABAP developers

Worried analysts

Worried Partners

So Let’s set the picture straight

SAP is notoriously good at advertising new technology

And is notorious for forgetting about current technology

Agenda

WebDynpro

NWBC BSP

Why this session?

ABAP

Gateway

SAPUI5

SAPUI5

SAPUI5 might be based on Javascript

But they still need to get their data from somewhere

And that somewhere, is motly the SAP Gateway

Which uses ABAP to get the logic from the database

It also resembles A LOT with the architecture of WebDynpro

Although it’s completely different

Agenda

WebDynpro

NWBC BSP

Why this session?

ABAP

Gateway

SAPUI5

Case - ABAP

ABAP

WebDynpro

Sidepanels

Complex applications

CockpitsGateway Web

Services

Classic Dynpros

(+ personas)ABAP On HANA

Case - ABAP

But is it still relevant?

What do you think?

What does it take to update our skills

Learn WebDynpro: It’ll give you a good understanding of MVC

architecture (important for UI5 as well) and OO (important for

Gateway)

Learn Gateway if you don’t like front-ends, but love API’s

Learn Screen Personas: You’ll notice that Persona scripting is less

powerfull than an ABAP BDC, this will give you ample opportunities

Agenda

WebDynpro

NWBC BSP

Why this session?

ABAP

Gateway

SAPUI5

Case - webDynpro

What can you use it for?

Create new WDA applications

Sidepanels

POWL

Extend standard WebDynpro applications

Create cockpits

Case - webDynpro

But is it still relevant?

YES! Absolutely!

WDA will still be around at least until 2025

And probably beyond

Moreover, WDA ties in close with the Business client (think of

sidepanels)

Learning WDA is also a first step for an ABAP developer, to learning

SAPUI5

BUT! WebDynpro is not mobile Friendly

Agenda

WebDynpro

NWBC BSP

Why this session?

ABAP

Gateway

SAPUI5

Case - NWBC

What can you use it for?

It’s a great frontend that combines

Powerfull sapgui transactions

With context aware information

Web applications

Such as webdynpro

BSP

3rd party websites

Screen personas

And even Fiori

Case - NWBC

But is it still relevant?

YES! Absolutely!

Seeing as SAP increased support for NW7 and ECC6 upto 2025

NWBC will remain at least relevant until than

And most likely far beyond

NWBC can also cope with Fiori and Screen Personas

NWBC is an advanced browser

If the future is BrowserBased, an advanced browser has an advantage

BUT! NWBC is not Mobile friendly!

Agenda

WebDynpro

NWBC BSP

Why this session?

ABAP

Gateway

SAPUI5

Case - BSP

You should’ve moved on long ago

BSP is a great tool for free-style webapplications on ABAP

But you should’ve either moved to CRM WebUI

Or to WebDynpro

Fortunately BSP is the base for Fiori Apps

That gives you a little edge

Case - BSP

But is it still relevant?

No!

Well, yes actually, but only as a container to hold Fiori/SAPUI5

applications

You don’t use the controller principle of BSP anymore

But! With the BSP framework in combination with UI5, you can

make mobile applications!

Agenda

WebDynpro

NWBC BSP

Why this session?

ABAP

Gateway

SAPUI5

Gateway

Typically, you’ll have your gateway tied with the backend

Which is based on ABAP

So if you want to stay in the API development, gateway is a

perfect place

Tom Van Doorslaer Ctac Belgium

@TomVanDoo