sappress netweaver visual composer

8/8/2019 Sappress NetWeaver Visual Composer

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Bonn Boston

Carsten Bnnen, Mario Herger

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer


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Contents at a Glance

Foreword ................................................................. 13

1 Introduction ............................................................ 17

2 SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer .......................... 25

3 Model-Driven Development ................................... 55

4 Architecture and Concepts ..................................... 67

5 Visual Composer Basics .......................................... 91

6 Building Applications ............................................. 179

7 Analytical Applications ........................................... 279

8 Application Lifecycle ............................................... 399

9 Business Examples ................................................. 427

10 Visual Composer and Enterprise SOA .................... 435

A Modeling and Tips .................................................. 441

B Coding for Integration Examples ............................ 463

C The Authors ............................................................ 513

Index ....................................................................... 515


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Contents

Foreword ................................................................................... 13

1 Introduction ............................................................ 17

2 SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer ........................... 25

2.1 SAP NetWeaver ......................................................... 26

2.2 Building Applications for SAP NetWeaver .................. 29

2.3 A Model-Driven Tool ................................................. 31

2.3.1 From Business Analyst to Business

Process Expert ............................................... 322.3.2 Freestyle Models ........................................... 34

2.3.3 SAPs UI Strategy .......................................... 38

2.3.4 Benefits of SAP NetWeaver Visual

Composer ..................................................... 40

2.4 Visual Composer Today ............................................. 42

2.4.1 SAP Visual Composer for NetWeaver

2004s ........................................................... 42

2.4.2 SAP Visual Composer 6.0 .............................. 49

3 Model-Driven Development ................................... 55

3.1 Basics ........................................................................ 56

3.2 Model-to-Code Approach .......................................... 58

3.3 Model-Driven Development Within SAP ................... 59

3.3.1 SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence ............ 60

3.3.2 Web Dynpro ................................................. 60

3.3.3 SAP Composite Application Framework ........ 61

3.3.4 Comparison Matrix ....................................... 61

3.4 Visual Composer as Visual Modeling Tool .................. 62

3.5 Parting Thoughts ....................................................... 64

4 Architecture and Concepts ...................................... 67

4.1 Architecture of SAP Visual Composer for

NetWeaver 2004s ...................................................... 68

4.1.1 Visual Composer Storyboard ......................... 69

4.1.2 Visual Composer Server ................................. 75

4.1.3 SAP NetWeaver Portal .................................. 80


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4.1.4 Web Browser ............................................... 84

4.1.5 Summary ...................................................... 84

4.2 Visual Composer within the SAP NetWeaver

Development Infrastructure ...................................... 86

4.3 How to Choose the Right Modeling Tool .................. 874.3.1 SAP Composite Application Framework ........ 88

4.3.2 Guided Procedures ....................................... 89

4.3.3 Business Process Modeling ........................... 89

4.3.4 SAP Business Explorer Suite .......................... 90

5 Visual Composer Basics .......................................... 91

5.1 Visual Composer Storyboard ..................................... 93

5.1.1 Main Menu .................................................. 945.1.2 Main Toolbar ............................................... 116

5.1.3 Task Panel and Task Panel Toolbar ............... 117

5.1.4 Board Toolbox .............................................. 122

5.1.5 Navigation Bar ............................................. 123

5.1.6 Console ........................................................ 124

5.2 Composing a Model .................................................. 125

5.2.1 Components ................................................. 126

5.2.2 Connectors ................................................... 132

5.2.3 Operators ..................................................... 1365.2.4 Additional Operators .................................... 139

5.3 UI Controls ............................................................... 142

5.3.1 Bulleted List ................................................. 143

5.3.2 Calendar ....................................................... 144

5.3.3 Checkbox ..................................................... 145

5.3.4 Clock ............................................................ 146

5.3.5 Combo Box .................................................. 147

5.3.6 Date Picker .................................................. 148

5.3.7 Drop-Down List ........................................... 1495.3.8 Expression Box ............................................. 150

5.3.9 Gauge .......................................................... 151

5.3.10 HSlider ......................................................... 152

5.3.11 HTML Text ................................................... 153

5.3.12 Image ........................................................... 154

5.3.13 Input Field ................................................... 155

5.3.14 List Box ........................................................ 156

5.3.15 Numbered List ............................................. 157

5.3.16 Plain Text ..................................................... 1575.3.17 Progress Bar ................................................. 158


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5.3.18 Pushbutton ................................................... 159

5.3.19 Radio Group ................................................. 160

5.3.20 Spinner ......................................................... 161

5.3.21 Text Editor .................................................... 162

5.3.22 Ticker ............................................................ 1635.3.23 Toggle Button ............................................... 164

5.3.24 VSlider .......................................................... 165

5.4 Expression Editor ....................................................... 166

6 Building Applications .............................................. 179

6.1 Getting StartedThe Basic Model ............................. 179

6.2 Transactional ApplicationsAccessing ERP from

Visual Composer ........................................................ 1816.2.1 The First Application ..................................... 182

6.2.2 Adding More Complex Data Services ............ 192

6.2.3 Adding Toolbars, Popups, and Charts ............ 205

6.2.4 Adding Layers ............................................... 215

6.2.5 Working with Data Stores and Visibility

Conditions .................................................... 221

6.2.6 Adding a Wizard ........................................... 227

6.2.7 Eventing in Visual Composer ......................... 251

6.3 Accessing Web Services ............................................. 259

7 Analytical Applications ........................................... 279

7.1 BI Kit Connections ..................................................... 279

7.1.1 SAP NetWeaver BI ........................................ 281

7.1.2 SAP Query .................................................... 282

7.1.3 JDBC ............................................................. 283

7.1.4 XMLA ........................................................... 285

7.1.5 ODBO ........................................................... 286

7.2 BI Kit Tools ................................................................ 2877.2.1 First BI Example ............................................ 287

7.2.2 BI Integration Wizard .................................... 292

7.2.3 SAP BI Queries .............................................. 295

7.2.4 JDBC ............................................................. 312

7.2.5 SAP Query .................................................... 319

7.2.6 XMLA ........................................................... 319

7.2.7 ODBO ........................................................... 338

7.2.8 SQL Editor .................................................... 338

7.2.9 MDX Editor .................................................. 343


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7.2.10 Exceptions .................................................... 346

7.2.11 Alerts ........................................................... 347

7.2.12 Hierarchies ................................................... 357

7.2.13 Sorting ......................................................... 370

7.2.14 Filtering ....................................................... 3717.2.15 Dynamic Columns ........................................ 372

7.2.16 Pivot and ALV .............................................. 377

7.3 Integration ................................................................ 378

7.3.1 BI Elements .................................................. 378

7.3.2 BI Workbooks .............................................. 389

7.3.3 BI Documents Store ..................................... 389

7.3.4 Planning Functionality .................................. 392

7.3.5 Exporting Data to Different Targets .............. 392

8 Application Lifecycle ............................................... 399

8.1 Visual Composer System Landscape .......................... 399

8.1.1 Transporting Models .................................... 399

8.1.2 Transporting Applications ............................. 400

8.1.3 Down Porting Applications ........................... 403

8.1.4 Upgrading Models and Applications ............. 407

8.1.5 Versioning .................................................... 407

8.1.6 Personalization ............................................. 4088.1.7 Localization .................................................. 409

8.1.8 Testing and Monitoring ................................ 419

8.1.9 Documentation and Help ............................. 423

8.2 Backend and Portal Systems ...................................... 423

8.2.1 Portal ........................................................... 423

8.2.2 SAP NetWeaver BI ....................................... 423

8.2.3 Other Data Sources ...................................... 425

9 Business Examples .................................................. 4279.1 Best Practice Scorecarding ........................................ 427

9.2 Account Analytics ..................................................... 429

9.3 Treasury and Financial Investment Controlling .......... 430

9.4 Summary .................................................................. 433

10 Visual Composer and Enterprise SOA ..................... 435


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Appendix........................................................................ 439

A Modeling and Tips ............................................................... 441

A.1 General Portal Issues ................................................. 441

A.2 Enable the Visual Composer Log ................................ 443A.3 Unlocking a Visual Composer Model ......................... 443

A.4 Percentage Sign ......................................................... 444

A.5 Chart Design .............................................................. 445

A.6 Changing Colors for Visual Composer

Applications .............................................................. 445

A.7 Searching for Visual Composer iViews in

the Portal .................................................................. 446

A.8 Performance Issues with BI JDBC Connector .............. 447

A.9 No Metadata from the BI JDBC Connector ................. 448A.10 No Metadata from the BI XMLA Connector ............... 448

A.11 Cannot See the InfoCube Under BI XMLA .................. 448

A.12 Performance Issues and Limitations with the

BI XMLA/ODBO Connector ....................................... 449

A.13 INVALID_VARIABLE_VALUES# .................................. 450

A.14 Wrong Language ....................................................... 451

A.15 Language Mapping .................................................... 452

A.16 Strange Names for Query Elements ............................ 452

A.17 Web Service Enablement ........................................... 452A.18 Authority Check Error ............................................. 454

A.19 Virtual Interface not found Error ............................. 455

A.20 Serialization Error ................................................... 456

A.21 Drop-Down List and Combo Box ............................... 458

A.22 Visual Composer and SAP BW/

SAP NetWeaver BI Sizing ........................................... 458

A.23 Formats of Date, Time, Units ..................................... 458

A.24 Problems with Mandatory Variables in BI XMLA ........ 459

A.25 SAP Query Result Fields and Select Fields .................. 459A.26 Writing Data Back ..................................................... 460

A.27 Jump to Detailed Analysis (from Alert or Any

Other Link) ................................................................ 460

A.28 Using a Dynamic RFC ................................................. 461

A.29 Sorting on BI Data with More Than 500 Records ....... 461

A.30 Calling Analysis Process Designer or Process Chain .... 462


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B Coding for Integration Examples .......................................... 463

B.1 BEx Integration ......................................................... 463

B.2 Document Integration ............................................... 472

B.3 Additional Code for Meta and Transactional

Data Document Association ...................................... 506B.4 Dynamic RFC ............................................................ 510

C The Authors ........................................................................ 513

Index ......................................................................................... 515


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Foreword

Foreword

SAP NetWeaver is a product that provides the tools to follow a new

architecture concept called Enterprise Services-Oriented Architec-ture (Enterprise SOA). One of these new and exciting development

tools to create applications calling enterprise services is the Visual

Composer. Before we look into its details described in this book by

Carsten Bnnen and Mario Herger, let us get some common ground

first: Why is it necessary to become familiar with an Enterprise SOA?

What role does SAP NetWeaver play in it? Whats the benefit of it

all?

Most companies do not want to continue spending large portions oftheir IT budget on maintaining the status quo. That is investing in

maintaining the current infrastructure or building quick fixes that

result in even more costs for the future. Theyd rather free money

and time to build applications from their users wish list long since

neglected or build new applications. Regardless of the applications

that have to be built, they all follow this pattern. IT is not aligned

with the business and thus not set up for rapid change, which is one

of the main drivers in competitive business situations. Adhering to

an Enterprise SOA will give customers the flexibility to adapt to new

market requirements and keep up with the speed of change. The

Enterprise SOAs main aim is to realize a business-driven approach

to an architecture of loosely coupled enterprise services for adaptive

business solutions. The enterprise services are Web services with

business logic and they are created and maintained with tools pro-

vided by SAP NetWeaver. Once you are able to leverage enterprise

services by utilizing the many development, administration and

maintenance tools provided by SAP NetWeaver, you have success-fully established an open, rapidly changeable but yet stable IT archi-

tecture. How so? Your applications utilizing services are re-usable,

can easily be deployed, can be used in various UIs, are quick to

implement, involve little training effort, and grant you with lean and

transparent business processes that can be adapted quickly.

SAP NetWeaver is not only providing the tools to realize an Enter-

prise SOA. SAP NetWeaver is also on its path to become a full-blown

Business Process Platform (BPP), with core business objects and

ready-to-run business processes leveraging enterprise services. SAP


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Foreword

is already well underway in providing the technology through its

SAP NetWeaver release and has already service-enabled SAP applica-

tions. For your convenience you can find an Enterprise Service Dis-

covery System on the SAP Developer Network (SDN), that describes

hundreds of services that are available right now. So you can startany minute to implement an Enterprise SOA that will help you gain

business advantages and help your IT and business stay flexible.

Of course you will also be able to develop your own custom services

and applications. If you put the right tools into the hands of the right

users, you can increase flexibility, develop faster, and free time and

money for new custom development projects.

How does the Visual Composer help you? What does it allow you to

do and who should use it? The Visual Composer allows you to

quickly and easily build applications and prototypes using a visual

interface rather than manually writing code. Instead of having to

concentrate on technical and programming know-how, you use

graphical building blocks and put these together to a flow diagram.

The Visual Composer will promote a new type of application devel-

opers, namely business analysts and business process experts. They

will be able to apply their inherent understanding of business pro-

cesses and their companies requirements to model Visual Composerapplications without having any development expertise or better still

without having to have it. The Visual Composer lets them tailor their

models to their end-users needs, e.g., the same Visual Composer

application can be deployed to run in more than one UI, for example

the SAP NetWeaver Portal, a Web Dynpro application or a mobile

application. The UI building blocks are interlinked with enterprise

services to service-enable your applications.

What reduction of development time can be expected? Since theVisual Composers development environment is so intuitive, you can

expect a huge decrease of development time. For example, SAP has

used the Visual Composer to model about 200 xApps for BI Analytics

in six weeks, one of which received the Macromedia MAX price for

analytical applications last year. Some of our customers have used

the Visual Composer for fast prototyping for projects running no

longer than a few weeks, sometimes days. So not only will your

development time and costs get significantly reduced, but you will

also be able to easily customize and adapt a Visual Composer model


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Foreword

to changing business needs. You will gain speed, flexibility and you

will have freed time to get to the backlog of internal development

requests that you can now model rapidly, deploy, and adapt quickly

using the Visual Composer.

To sum it up, SAP recommends an Enterprise SOA to stay flexible,

reduce costs and align IT with the business. The tools to maintain

and change your IT and applications are provided by SAP

NetWeaver, which will move ahead to become a Business Process

Platform to offer an extensive and rich set of enterprise services. One

of these tools to model applications leveraging enterprise services,

the Visual Composer, is described in detail in this book.

Enjoy this exciting book and have fun leveraging the Visual Com-

poser. When youve finished your new modeling projects, wed love

to hear from you.

Klaus Kreplin, Walldorf 2006

Executive Vice President and Corporate Officer of SAP Group

SAP NetWeaver


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One of the longest chapters in this book is still ahead of you,

but it is also the most practical one. What would all the

prior talk be without hands-on examples and real life ques-tions? Well, this is the chapter to put all that talk to the test.

6 Building Applications

When building an application with SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer

from scratch, there are some initial steps that you must take:

Visual ComposerFirst StepCreating a Model

1. First, you must create the model. One way to do this is by opening

theModel menu and choosing New Model from the list. An empty

model is created.

2. Before you continue, it might make sense to configure the work

environment according to your needs (see Section 5.1.1 on the

Options dialog from the Tools menu for details).

3. After everything is set up, you can begin to build your applica-tion.

6.1 Getting StartedThe Basic Model

Visual Composer101A BasicModel

In Chapter 5, we said that Visual Composer is used to build applica-

tions for SAP NetWeaver Portal. Figure 6.1 shows the elements that

represent known entities from the portal world. All entities can be

opened by double-clicking on them in the Storyboard of the VisualComposer. Starting with the basic element on the right, an iView

defines the smallest entity of content in SAP NetWeaver Portal. The

iView element is the basic element for all Visual Composer elements,

and without it, you cannot model an application. The application

logic and flow is defined in one or several iView elements.


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Building Applications6

Figure 6.1 The Main Elements

From a Visual Composer perspective, aportal page is nothing more

than a container for iViews. Figure 6.2 shows the same elements as

Figure 6.1 but this time the iView is part of thePage element. Note

that you can define applications that consist only of iViews in Visual

Composer and set up the pages later as an administrator in SAP

NetWeaver Portal.

Figure 6.2 ... with an iView in the Page Element

By definition,Business packagesprovideout-of the-box portal applica-tions that can be easily modified to suit a customers needs. Because

Visual Composer is used to build business applications, it therefore

makes sense that one of the many elements that it offers represents a

business package: Package. Figure 6.3 shows this element with the

portal content (the page and the iView that we saw in Figure 6.1 and

Figure 6.2 before) in it.

Figure 6.3 ... and with the Same Page in the Package

From Packageto iView

Figure 6.4 outlines all the steps of building an application with Visual

Composer: First, you Create a Model, and then you Create a Package

within the model by dragging the Package element from the task

panel into the model. To open the package, double-click on it. Then


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Transactional ApplicationsAccessing ERP from Visual Composer 6.2

you Create a Page by dragging a Page element from the task panel

into the package and open it with a double-click. Next, you Create an

iView by dragging the iView element from the task panel onto the

page. By double-clicking on the iView element, you open the iView

and can start modeling your application.

Figure 6.4 Steps in Building a Flexible Application with Visual Composer

All other steps (from Connect to Backend to Deploy Package) are

explained in the examples later on in this chapter. Note that all

examples start from within an opened iView unless mentioned oth-

erwise.

6.2 Transactional ApplicationsAccessing ERP

from Visual Composer

In the following examples, you will build applications that connect

to SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. To do so, you

will access Business Application Programming Interfaces (BAPIs) that

provide the functionality necessary to implement your application.

Connect to Backend

Create an iView

Create a Package

Create a Page

Create a Model

Design the iView Logic Create the Layout

Access Data Service

Check Model for Errors Deploy Package

Flexible Application


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SAP SystemAdapter

To access ERP systems, Visual Composer uses theSAP System adapter

for SAP NetWeaver Portal. The SAP System adapter is an implemen-

tation of a connector framework based on the J2EE Java Connectiv-

ity Architecture (JCA) 1.0, the SAP Remote Function Call (RFC)

library, and the SAP Java Connector (JCo). Using the SAP Systemadapter, you can access SAP ERP systems, Customer Relationship

Management systems (like mySAP CRM), and Business Intelligence

solutions (like SAP NetWeaver BI).

6.2.1 The First Application

Keep it SimpleOur First

Application

Imagine the following situation. Youre a member of a project team.

You have a basic understanding of IT and an even better understand-

ing of the processes in your company, but you dont have any pro-gramming skills. Therefore, you are close to having the skill set of the

business process expert.

In this particular scenario, your project lead comes in and tells you to

build a relatively simple application. The application is supposed to

display the address of a customer after typing in the customer num-

ber. Furthermore, since this application is intended to be used in a

SAP NetWeaver environment, it should be displayed using the SAP

NetWeaver Portal.

Sounds easy, doesnt it? Remember in this setup that you dont know

how to develop applications, that is, no Java, no ABAP, no nothing

And now you are supposed to build an application that runs in SAP

NetWeaver Portal and also accesses data from a backend system.

Make it FastBuilding anApplication

Quickly

To add an interesting twist to this situation, because the application

is considered to be so simple, the request is for it to be available by

noon and it is now 9 am. If you have a good developer who is readily

available, you should be able to meet this goal; however, as luckwould have it, there is no developer on hand and the application still

has to be implemented by noon.

Lets see how Visual Composer can help you to build this straightfor-

ward application. In the next example, well show you how to build

this application without requiring development skills and without

needing three hours to implement it.


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Accessing Data Services

1. After creating a basic model as explained in Section 6.1, you can

begin building your application. Open the iView from the basic

model and fill the iView with application elements and logic.2. After choosing Find Data from the task panel toolbar, you will see

an input form in the task panel. Using the input form, you can

now decide on which system you want to access. For the follow-

ing example, you will choose an ERP system. Figure 6.5 shows an

already conducted search on an ERP system named XK3.

Figure 6.5 Task Panel ToolbarFind Data


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3. As you can see in Figure 6.5, using the Look for field, you can nowdetermine how you want to search for a data service. Visual Com-

poser differentiates from among the various system types (such as

ERP, BI, JDBC systems) that it can access. Depending on the type of

system that you select, different entries will appear. For example,

for ERP systems, you can either Look for a service by name, Look

for a service by group, or Browse the service catalog. In this exam-

ple, you want to Look for a service by name.

Searching fora Data Service inVisual Composer

4. You can now type in the search criteria in the Service field.Because youre looking for details on a customer, you first try the

following: *CUSTOMER*. Then, if you expect the data service that

youre looking for to be a BAPI, you search for BAPI_CUSTOMER*

as well. However, while the second approach reduces the list sig-

nificantly, the first approach shows all available data services with

CUSTOMER in its name. Besides BAPIs, it is very likely that RFCs

will be in the system as well. If you use the second approach (i.e.,

search for BAPI_CUSTOMER*), they will be listed as well.

5. From the list of results, you can now choose the data service thatyou want to use for your application. In this example, that data ser-

vice is BAPI_CUSTOMER_GETDETAIL. To import the metadata

describing this data service into your iView, you can either double-

click on the data service or position it directly in your iView by

using drag-and-drop.

6. Before the representation of the data service will be visible in your

model, Visual Composer will ask you which ports and fields you want

Attention

The list of systems in the System drop-down list may vary, depending on

the user. As mentioned before, Visual Composer uses the system land-

scape of SAP NetWeaver Portal. It connects to the portal with the same

user you used to log on to Visual Composer.

The roles and thepermissions of the user define which systems you will see

in the drop-down list. In addition, the logonticket or the usermapping of

this user are used for authentication purposes on the backend systems. If

there is any kind of authorization that is maintained for the user on the

backend, it will be used as well. This way Visual Composer ensures that

the user cannot access systems (authentication) he must not access and

cannot access data services (authorization) he must not use.


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to use (see Figure 6.6). If you select too many fields1 in the Define

Data Service dialog (see right side), youll receive a system warning.

Figure 6.6 Definition of a Data Service

Suggestions toOptimize YourModelVisualComposerWarnings

You can use the following feature to optimize your model. In all

the examples that we have selected for this book, you will be able

to select fields and play around with them, without having to

import the metadata again. You will then see the new BAPI that

you imported above now shown as an element on the Storyboard.

7. To ensure that the data servicein this example, the BAPIthatyou imported really does what you expect it to do, you can check

the functionality of that data service. By right-clicking on the data

servicethe BAPI representation in your modelyou can open a

context menu (see Figure 6.7). When you select Test Data Ser-

vice... from the context menu, the Test Data Service dialog opens

(see Figure 6.8).

Figure 6.7 Data Service Context Menu

1 How many fields are too many is defined in the Options dialog box from the Tools

menu explained in Chapter 5.


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Figure 6.8 Test Data Service Dialog

8. For the BAPI_CUSTOMER_GETDETAIL, you can enter test input

for five fields, although only two fields are requiredCustomerno

and Pi Salesorg. Required input fields are marked in red and are

each affixed with an asterisk (*).

An example entry for a customer number is 0000001000 and an

example entry for a sales organization is 1000. With these two val-

ues, you can test the functionality of the data service by clicking

on Execute.

You have now created your first representation of a data service in

Visual Composer. If you glance at the Layout tab, youll notice that

there are no views yet.

Creating Views

Creating YourFirst View

1. On the Design tab, youll see an Input port on the left side of the

data service. By dragging out from this port and releasing the

mouse button, you can open a context menu (see Figure 6.9).

ChoosingAdd Input Form from the list will create an input form.

2. You just created your first viewan input form. Easy, wasnt it?

Switching back to the Layout tab, youll see an input form with all

the fields that you might need when using BAPI_CUSTOMER_

GETDETAIL.


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Figure 6.9 Dragging Out a Context Menu from the Input Port

If a BAPI has too many input fields, Visual Composer will require

you to select from the list of input fields, but you can always select

all fields using Select all.3. Creating an output view is as simple as creating an input form. By

dragging out from Pe Addressan output port of BAPI_

CUSTOMER_GETDAILand releasing the button, you can open

another context menu. You can then chooseAdd Form View from

the list. Another dialog box opens (see Figure 6.10).

Figure 6.10 Select Display Fields Dialog

4. Visual Composer realized that there are too many fields and you

can now decide on the fields that you want to use for your Form

View. For this example, choose CITY, COUNTRY, NAME, and STREET.

Submit your selection by clicking OK.


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If you switch back to the Layout tab, you now see the new views

the input form and the Form View (see Figure 6.11). But, there are

still some things that you would like to change such as the field

names.

Figure 6.11 Initial Layout of Your First Application

Layout of ViewsYou notice that all fields that can be used together with BAPI_

CUSTOMER_GETDETAIL are visible in the input form. Remember-

ing the test of the BAPI, you know that only two of the fields are

really requiredthe ones marked with red asterisks (*) on the Lay-

out tab. For this sample application, all you need to do is to provide

the input for the required fields.

DeletingSuperfluous Fields

1. Removing the other three fields is easy. By marking the fields and

pressing the Del key, you can remove the fields. You can markmore than one field by first using the Ctrl key and then using the

Del key to remove them.

Another solution would be to right-click on the input form and

choose Configure Element from the context menu. On the lower

part of the task panel, you can now check and uncheck the ele-

ments that should be visible in your input form.

2. On the Layout tab, you can then arrange the forms according to

Figure 6.12. This can be done easily by using drag-and-drop to


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position the forms. In addition, you can grab the borders of the

forms to enlarge or shrink them.

Figure 6.12 Arranging the Layout of the First Application

Renaming Fields3. After arranging the forms and the fields within themusing the

same mechanism as you used for the formsyou can change the

names of the fields as well as the names of the forms. By marking

the element that you want to rename and pressing the F2 key,you can easily rename it.

Alternatively, you can open a context menu by right-clicking on

the field. From this context menu, choose Edit Label to change the

name of the element. You can employ this method for almost

every element available in Visual Composer.

Note

By double-clicking on a control on the Layout tab, you can open the Con-trol Properties dialog. You can also do this by right-clicking on the con-

trol and choosing Properties from the context menu. Using the Control

Properties dialog, you can modify all controls that are available in Visual

Composer. At the same time that you opened the Control Properties dia-

log, the Configure Element was opened in the task panel.

The Control Properties dialog might differ for different UI controls in

Visual Composer. For a detailed description of the UI controls, see Section

5.3.


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4. As an example of modifying a control, youyou can determine the

Label position on the Display tab of the Control Properties dialog

(see Figure 6.13). You can experiment with it for the example

above.

Figure 6.13 The Display Tab of the Control Properties Dialog

Deployment

From VisualComposer to

SAP NetweaverPortalDeploying

Your Application

Before you deploy your application, you should ensure that themodel looks similar to the one shown in Figure 6.14.

Figure 6.14 Model of Your First Application

1. To deploy your application to the SAP NetWeaver Portal, you can

now click on Deploy in the task panel toolbar. Deploy to Portal

will appear in the task panel. You will see three buttons: Deploy,

Compile, and Clear.

2. After clicking on Deploy, a Progress Bar will appear to inform you

of the deployment progress. In addition, you will receive messages

with information on the different steps that Visual Composer is

running through such as compiling and deploying.


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3. Figure 6.15 shows the Deploy to Portal dialog in the task panel

after a successful deployment.2View source code and Run Basi-

capplicationiview are links that can be used to access the source

code and run the application in SAP NetWeaver Portal.

Figure 6.15 Deploy to Portal Dialog

Running YourApplication

4. Click on Run Basicapplicationiview to open your application in

SAP NetWeaver Portal. Your application should look similar to

the one shown in Figure 6.16 after test values have been entered

(into the input fields) and submitted.

Figure 6.16 First Application After Deployment in SAP NetWeaver Portal

2 After pressing Compile instead ofDeploy in the previous step, you will only see

View source code.


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You have now built your first simple application. Well now have

you tackle more challenging applications in order to give you a better

understanding of how to use Visual Composer to build flexible busi-

ness applications.

6.2.2 Adding More Complex Data Services

Because you built your first application in the requested time, your

project lead is convinced that you can build applications in a very

short time frame.

First, the bad news. He asks you to build an application that shows all

sales orders for the customer from the first example. The orders

should be displayed in a list. After clicking on a list entry, the appli-

cation should then display the details on the sales order. Further-

more, the project lead would truly appreciate it if you could use col-ors to mark different statuses of the sales orders. And of course, the

list should be sorted. Now, for the good news. This time, youll have

an entire day to build the application.

One Input Formfor Two BAPIs

In the next example, you will extend the application that you built in

the first application. You will reuse the information from the created

input form (Enter Customer) as input for another BAPI: BAPI_

SALESORDER_GETLIST. Then, you will modify the output of this

BAPI by sorting it before displaying it in a Table View. Next, you will

add a new column to the Table View, accessing data from another

field and using this data to determine the color of the table cells. You

will also invoke a second BAPI: BAPI_SALESORDER_GETSTATUS.

For the Table View that displays the data from this BAPI, you will

add a new column based on dynamic expressions.

Note

By default, Visual Composer will use Adobe Flash runtime to build an

application. As mentioned before, you can choose another runtime, that

is, Web Dynpro. For more information, see the explanation ofOptions

from the Tools menu in Section 5.1.1.


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Adding a Second BAPI to Your Application

1. In this example, you will start by importing BAPI_SALESORDER_

GETLIST to your first application (see Figure 6.17).

Figure 6.17 Looking for BAPI_SALESORDER_GETLIST

2. By dragging out the Input port of BAPI_SALESORDER_GETLIST itcan be connected to the already existing input form EnterCus-

tomer. You just drag out from the Input port and release the

mouse button after moving it to the out port ofEnter Customer. A

red line will mark the connection that will be created before

releasing the mouse button.

3. By testing BAPI_SALESORDER_GETLIST with your first applica-

tion, you ensure that the BAPI provides the functionality that you

want. At the same time, you notice that the required fields are

Customer Number and Sales Organization. This means that your

input form already has the correct input fields to fetch the data

for the required fields.

Field Mapping

If you remember your first application, youll recall that the fields

required by BAPI_CUSTOMER_GETDETAIL were named differently.

So there is no way yet for BAPI_SALESORDER_GETLIST to know


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which data should be used for the two required fields. Fortunately,

this issue is easy to resolve.

1. The connection that you created in the first step is of type data-

mapping. You will open Configure Element for this connection inthe task panel. On the lower part of the task panel, you can assign

values to the input fields. In this example, the value @CUSTOMERNO is

assigned to the input field CUSTOMER_NUMBER and @PI_SALESORG is

assigned to SALES_ORGANIZATION. The data service is now imported

correctly into the model.

2. According to the settings forAutomatically create data mapping

when source and target from the Composingtab ofOptions from

the Tools menu (see Section 5.1.1), Visual Composer will try to do

an automatic data mapping. Depending on this setting and thedata, it might be necessary to do the data mapping manually.

3. After correctly importing the data service BAPI_SALESORDER_

GETLIST into your model, you can now drag out from Sales

Orders port. When you release the button, a context menu will

open, from which you can again choose Add Table View. Visual

Composer realizes that there are too many fields and asks you to

select the ones that you want to use in the Table View. You

choose DOC_DATE, DOC_STATUS, MATERIAL, NAME, and SD_DOC fromthe list of available fields.

You have now created your first Table View. The model should look

similar to the one in Figure 6.18.

Figure 6.18 Extended Application with a Table View

Switching back to the Layout tab, you can now modify the TableView according to how it looks in Figure 6.19, using the same meth-


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ods for resizing and renaming elements as you did in the first appli-

cation. The only difference here is that instead of marking input

fields, you will now mark table columns.

Figure 6.19 New Layout of Your Application with a Table View

Sorting

When we introduced this example, we promised to sort the output

of BAPI_SALESORDER_GETLIST. A look at Figure 6.20 reveals that

after entering test values and submitting them, the resulting table in

your application is not yet sorted. To sort the list of sales orders, you

have to switch back to the Design tab.

1. On the Design tab, click on Compose from the task panel toolbar.This will open the Compose Model in the task panel.

2. You will see four groups: Components, Connectors, Operators,

andAdditional Operators. To sort data, you can use Sort from the

Operators group. In a first step, drag this operator into your

model.

3. In the next step, you must remove the connection betweenBAPI_

SALESORDER_GETLIST and the Sales Orders Table View.


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Figure 6.20 Application with an Unsorted List of Sales Orders

4. Drag the Sort operator (Sort1) to a convenient position in your

model and connect its Input port to the Sales Orders port of

BAPI_SALESORDER_GETLIST. To complete the connection, you

then connect the out port of the operator to the in port of the

Sales Orders Table View. Your model should resemble the oneshown in Figure 6.21.

Figure 6.21 Sample Application with Sort Operator

5. Because the Sort operator doesnt know according to which crite-

ria you want to sort the data, you must configure it. To configure

the data, first, double-click on the operator. The Configure Ele-

ment dialog will be opened in the task panel. In this example, you


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want to sort the data (Sort by) byDOC_STATUS and the Direction is

down. By setting the direction to down, you will sort the list in a

way whereby the open documents are shown first. Because DOC_

STATUS is of type Text, you have to sort the list in reverse alphabet-

ical order (down) instead of straight alphabetical order (up). There-fore, documents with status Open will show up first on the list.

6. You might have to reconfigure the Sales Orders Table View.

Before deploying, you have to check the Layout tab. If everything

looks okay, you can deploy your application to your first applica-

tion.

After running the application in SAP NetWeaver Portal, it should

look like the one shown in Figure 6.22. The list of sales orders is now

sorted.

Figure 6.22 Application with a Sorted List of Sales Orders

According to the project plan, there is still something missing. Your

project lead would like to have the sales orders marked with differ-

ent colors to indicate their status. This would make it easier for an

end user to identify the relevant rows in the list. More specifically,

you want open sales orders to be marked with a red flag, sales orders

that are not yet delivered to be marked with a yellow flag, and com-

pleted sales orders to be marked with a green flag.


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Customizing

If you open the Layout tab, you see that there is one column that

provides the data on the status of the sales order: Document Status.

From this column, you can derive the necessary information on the

statuses of the different sales orders. Now all you have to do is use

this information to mark orders with the right colors.

Creating aCustom Field

1. First, you have to configure the Sales Orders Table View. You can

open Configure Element by clicking on Configure in the task panel

toolbar, or by using the Sales Orders context menu.

2. Next, click on the Plus symbol on the lower part of the task panel,

which will open the New UI Control dialog that displays a list of

available UI controls.

3. Choose Expression Box from the list. The data type is by default

Text, which is fine for this example, but the Field name should be

changed. Because you eventually want to replace the existing field

Document Status, it makes sense to name the field document_sta-

tus. Note that there are no blanks allowed in a field name.

4. After clicking on OK, youll see an additional column in the Table

ViewSales Orders. Rename the column to Document Status. Your

layout should now resemble the layout in Figure 6.23. Double-

click on the newly created column.

Figure 6.23 New Column for the Sales Orders Table View


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Expression Editor5. The Control Properties dialog box opens. Your first goal is to display

the data from the existing field Document Status in your newly cre-

ated field. Click on Formula on the General tab of the dialog box.

6. Another dialog box opens (see Figure 6.24). Computed Value is

the dialog box in which you can use the Expression Editor.3 On

the right side of the dialog box is a structure that you can browse

as you would browse in a file explorer.

Figure 6.24 Expression Editor

7. From the structure, you choose Data Fields and expand the node.

Youll see a list of fields. Every field has an icon to identify its data

type. From the list, you selectDOC_STATUS by double-clicking on it.

You now see @DOC_STATUS in the formula area on the left side of

the dialog box.

8. When you click on the Check button in the Computed Values dia-

log, Visual Composer informs you that the entered formula is

valid. After closing the dialog box, youll see that@DOC_STATUS is

now the value of the Expression field on the General tab in the

Control Properties dialog (see Figure 6.25).

As an optional step, you could deploy the application to ensure that

the two columns always contain the same value. So far, there is no

coloring involved, but that will change right now.

Adding StyleVisual ComposerStyles

1. If you switch from the General tab of the Control Properties dialog

box to the Styles tab, you can now define different styles, includ-

ing different colors. In addition, you can assign a Condition (i.e.,

boolean expressions that decide whether a style should be applied)

to every style that defines when a specific style should be used.

3 For details on the Expression Editor, see Section 5.4.


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Figure 6.25 Expression BoxGeneral Tab

2. By clicking on the Plus symbol (see Figure 6.26), you can create a

new entry in the list ofStyle-Condition pairs. You can use boolean

operators within the conditions. The Styles tab should look like

the one in Figure 6.26. Table 6.1 lists the Style-Condition pairs

accordingly.

Note that you can define the colors using hexadeximal notation (as

you would do in HTML), or by choosing from a palette that can be

opened by clicking on the icon next to the fields Foreground and

Background.

Figure 6.26 Expression BoxStyles Tab


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You can now deploy your application. It should look like the one in

Figure 6.27. The only thing left for you to do now is to remove the

original Document Status column from the table. Note that in your

model you will have to uncheck the old column from the configura-tion dialog of the table in order to remove it.

Figure 6.27 Application After Adding Expression Box with Styles

Style Condition

#FF0000 (Background color red) @DOC_STATUS=='Open'

#FFFF00 (Background color yellow) @DOC_STATUS=='Not delivered'

#00FF00 (Background color green) @DOC_STATUS=='Completed'

Table 6.1 Style-Condition Combinations for Your Expression Box

Attention

On the Styles tab, not only can you define the background color (Back-

ground), but the text font (Textfont) and style (Textstyle), the foreground

color (Foreground), and the alignment of the text (Align).

In the example, the conditions exclude each other so the order of the con-

ditions is not important. In general, however, the order of the conditions

is important. When you use a set of conditions whereby more than one

condition might apply, the style that is connected to the first condition is

applied.


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ConnectingTwo BAPIs

After having created a sorted list of all sales orders for your cus-

tomer, you will now make additional information available on the

status of the sales orders.

1. To make this information available, you will have to invokeanother BAPI: BAPI_SALESORDER_GETSTATUS. This BAPI will

provide you with detailed information on the sales orders.

2. To use BAPI_SALESORDER_GETSTATUS, you must connect it to

the out port of the Sales Orders Table View. Then, double-click on

the connection and Configure Element will open in the task panel.

On the lower part of the task panel, you have to assign @SD_DOC to

the input field SALESDOCUMENT.

3. You can now drag out from the Statusinfo port and release the

mouse button. SelectAdd Table View to create an additional Table

View. In the Layout tab, modify your layout and then deploy the

application. Figure 6.28 shows what the application looks like

after deployment.

DynamicExpressions

For the output of BAPI_SALESORDER_GETSTATUS, you want to

mark the sales orders according to their size. Sales orders with a

value smaller than 100,000 (or 128,000 USD) should be marked in

red with Small in the Order Size column. All other sales orders

should be marked in green and have the value of the order.

1. If you recall in the first example on creating custom fields, you first

switched to the Layout tab. The field NET_VALUE would provide us

with the information that we were looking for; however, in this

example, you will compute the value of the order instead of read-

ing it from a field. To do so, open ConfigureElement for Sales

Order Status.

2. By clicking on the Plus symbol on the lower part of the task panel

you open the New UI Control dialog. As in the last example, youchoose Expression Box from the list UI controls. Use the Text data

type again. Change the Field name to order_size.

3. After clicking on OK youll see an additional column in the Sales

Order Status Table View. You can now rename the column to

Order Size. When you double-click on the column, the Control

Properties dialog opens.


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Figure 6.28 Application Showing Status Information from BAPI_SALESORDER_GETSTATUS

Calculating inVisual Composer

Your first objective here is to compute and display the net value of

the order. You also want the value to be replaced by the text Small

whenever the order size is smaller than 100,000.

1. On the General tab of the dialog box, click on the Formula button.

The Expression Editor opens. By clicking on the node Conditional

Functions, you can expand this node.

2. A list of conditional functions is displayed. From the list, choose

the IF function. In the text field on the right-hand side, modify the

IF function using the following formula:

IF(@REQ_QTY*@NET_PRICE>100000,@REQ_QTY*@NET_PRICE,'Small')

The formula checks whether the net price multiplied with the

quantity is higher than 100,000 (IF(@REQ_QTY*@NET_PRICE>

100000)). If this condition is true, the first expression is used

(@REQ_QTY*@NET_PRICE

); if the condition is false, the secondexpression ('Small') is used.


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3. Click on Check to determine whether the formula is valid (i.e.,

Visual Composer will notify you). If the formula is valid, you can

close the dialog. The formula is now the value of the Expression

field.

4. To bring some more color to your application, open the Styles tab

and define two Style-Condition pairs in accordance with your

objective of marking small orders in red and all orders with a

value higher than 100,000 in green (see Table 6.2).

Thats it! After deploying your application, it should look like the one

shown in Figure 6.29.

Figure 6.29 Application After Adding Another Custom Column to Sales Order Status

Style Condition

#FF0000 (Background color red) @REQ_QTY*@NET_PRICE>100000

#00FF00 (Background color green) @REQ_QTY*@NET_PRICE


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6.2.3 Adding Toolbars, Popups, and Charts

Free ExercisesImproving theApplication

Well now your project lead is convinced that you are some kind of

magician when it comes to building applications quickly. He likes the

application, but detects that there is still something missing:

First, not every user will have instant recall of the sales organiza-

tion of customers. Therefore, the project lead recommends imple-

menting a kind of help for the user that allows him or her to

choose from a list of sales organizations. Furthermore, it would be

much appreciated if only those sales orders available for the spe-

cific customer would be on the list.

Secondly, your project lead asks you to enhance the application

with some additional colors. More specifically, he wants you to find

a way to make some of the data available in a chart. This becomes

even more critical because your project lead has to provide a status

report and would like to add some nice screenshots to it.

Although you dont know how you will implement all of these

requirements, you feel confident that you can do this using Visual

Composer.

Adding aToolbar

In the next steps, you will extend the application that you built in the

last example. First, you will create a toolbar for the Enter Customerinput form. From this toolbar, it will be possible to open a popup

window in which the end user can choose the sales organization of a

customer using BAPI_CUSTOMER_GETSALESAREAS. In addition,

you will create a chart that displays the size of the different orders in

a column chart sorted by the date of the order.

Creating a Toolbar

In Visual Composer, you can create a toolbar for every viewsuch asform, table, or chart views.

1. Toolbars can be easily added to a view by right-clicking on the view,

either on the Design tab or the Layout tab. A context menu will

open up in which you can choose Create Toolbar (see Figure 6.30).


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Figure 6.30 Context Menu of a View

2. In this example, you will create a toolbar for the input form Enter

Customer. After choosing Create Toolbar from the context menu,

the Create Toolbar Buttons dialog opens (see Figure 6.31). To adda button to the toolbar, click on the Plus symbol on the lower left

side of the dialog box. A button labeled Button will be created.

Rename the button to Choose Sales Org. You can also define an

action on the button. Here, define a custom action with the name

CHOOSE_SALES_ORG.

Figure 6.31 Create Toolbar Buttons Dialog

You have now created your first toolbar. Figure 6.32 shows the input

form with the newly created toolbar.


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Figure 6.32 Input Form with a Toolbar

Popup iView

After creating the toolbar with the Choose Sales Org button, you

now have a trigger to raise an event to open a help dialog for the

Enter Customer input form. There are different ways in Visual Com-

poser to create a help dialog. In this example, youll use a popup

iView (see the sections on Value Help in Chapter 7 for an alternative

to this approach).

1. To create a popup iView, drag out from the out port ofEnter Cus-

tomer. From the context menu that opens, select Open Popup

iView. The Select Popup iView dialog opens (see Figure 6.33).

2. In the Select Popup iView dialog, select Create new iView and

change the name to Choose Sales Org. After clicking on OK, you

have created your first popup iView, but it still doesnt contain any

functionality nor can it be invoked.

Tip

If you click on OK before creating a button for a toolbar, you wont see a

toolbar in the specific view. This is due to the fact that in theory every

view already has a toolbar and, by default, this toolbar is hidden. Addinga button automatically sets the visibility flag of the toolbar to Show. If

you dont add a button, the status of the toolbar wont change and it will

still be hidden.

To remove a toolbar, open Configure Element for the view with the tool-

bar. Youll see a property Toolbar with the value Show. By opening the

drop-down list and changing the value to Hide, you can hide the toolbar.

If you want to reuse the toolbar later on, you can keep the buttons of the

toolbar. On the other hand, if you want to remove the toolbar completely

and dont intend on using it again, we recommend that you remove all

buttons from the toolbar before hiding it. This will eliminate unnecessary

data from your model description.


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Figure 6.33 Select Popup iView Dialog

3. You can configure the event that will later bring up the popup

iView by double-clicking on the connection between the out port

and the popup element. Moreover, by changing the value of

Event name to choose_sales_org (see Figure 6.34), you can gen-

erate an event which you can raise with the button from the tool-

bar that you just created. Note that Visual Composer does not dif-

ferentiate between uppercase and lowercase for actions andevent names.

Figure 6.34 Configure Element for the Popup Invocation

You can now open a popup iView. Next, you will add functionality to

this iView.

AddingFunctionality to a

Popup iView

1. To add functionality to the popup iView, you have to drill down to

the popup iView. This opens the popup iView. You can do this by

right-clicking on the popup icon and choosing Drill Down from

the context menu. Figure 6.35 shows the icon with an opened con-

text menu.


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Figure 6.35 Popup Element Context Menu

2. In your popup iView, the end user should be able to choose from

a list of sales areas that are available for a specific customer. TheBAPI that provides this functionality is BAPI_CUSTOMER_GET-

SALESAREAS. Note that this BAPI requires the customer number.

3. Since you already asked the end user for the customer number in

the Enter Customer input form, it is already available. Unfortu-

nately, this information is available only in the calling iView, and

not yet in the popup iView. How do you make the customer num-

ber available within the popup iView?

4. By dragging out and releasing the Input port of BAPI_

CUSTOMER_GETSALESAREAS, you open a context menu, just asyou have done before. This time you choose Start Point from the

list (see Figure 6.36).

Figure 6.36 Creating a Start Point to Import Data into a Popup iView

5. The Select Input Fields dialog opens. From there, you select

CUSTOMERNO and click on OK.

6. By dragging out from the Salesareas port of BAPI_CUSTOMER_

GETSALESAREAS, you can now create a Table View with at least

the customer number (CUSTOMER) and the sales organization

(SALESORG).


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Adding a Button toa Popup iView

To preview the layout of the popup iView, select the Layout tab.

Because you are dealing with a popup iView here, you sense that there

is still one thing missing, namely, a button to close the popup iView.

1. To add this button, you create a toolbar for the Table View and adda button called Close. In addition, you define a custom action

named CLOSE on this button. Figure 6.37 shows an example for a

Table View for BAPI_CUSTOMER_GETSALESAREAS.

2. Next, drag out from the out port of the Table View and create an

End Point in the same way that you created the Start Point before.

By double-clicking on the connection between out port and the

End Point you can rename the connection to close.

Figure 6.37 Table View with Close Button for BAPI_CUSTOMER_GETSALESAREAS

3. Now you can close the popup iView by clicking on the button from

the toolbar. There is still one thing left to domake the informa-

tion on the sales organization available to the calling iView.

4. To make this data available, first switch back to the calling iView

by clicking on the back arrow from the navigation bar.5. Then double-click on the choose_sales_org connection to open a

list of input and output ports. Assign the input and output fields of

the popup iView according to the way they appear in Figure 6.38.

After deploying your application, it should look like the one shown

in Figure 6.39. You can see the newly created popup iView opened

and showing only the available sales organizations for customer

0000001000the customer number that was already entered in the

Enter Customer input form.


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Figure 6.38 Assigning Popup Input and Output to the BAPI and the InputForm Fields

Figure 6.39 Application with Popup iView Opened


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Index

A

ABAP List Viewer (ALV) 358

ABAP stack 27, 28

ABAP Workbench 31, 391

ActionScript 72, 78, 85

Activation 425

Additional operators 139

Administrator Workbench 424

Adobe Flash 43, 72

Client 78File 85

Player 52, 91UI 40

Adobe Flash Runtime 85

Deploying applications using 192Adobe Flex Server 78, 85, 419

Adobe SVG Viewer 52, 71, 91

Alert Data Service 104, 347, 406

Alert Framework 347

Alert Monitor 357

Alias Manager 403

Analysis Process Designer 462

Analytic applications 40, 46 APD 462

Application consultant 33

Application platform layer 27

Application service 61, 88

ARIS 87, 89

Authentication 184

Authorization 184, 317

B

Backend elements 74

Balanced Scorecard 428BAPI 435

Accessing 184BAPI_CUSTOMER_GETDETAIL

184, 216

CITY 187COUNTRY 187Customerno 186NAME 187

Pe Address 187Pi Salesorg 186

STREET 187

BAPI_CUSTOMER_GETSALESAREAS 205, 209

CUSTOMER 209CUSTOMERNO 209SALESORG 209

BAPI_FLBOOKING_CREATEFROMD

ATA 246, 247, 248

BOOKING_DATA 246CLASS 248INPUT 246OUTPUT 246

RESERVER_ONLY 247RETURN 246TEST_RUN 247TICKET_PRICE 246

BAPI_FLIGHT_CHECKAVAILABILIT

Y 238

AIRLINEID 238CONNECTIONID 238FLIGHTDATE 238

BAPI_FLIGHT_GETLIST 230, 238,

253

AIRLINE 245AIRPORTFR 245AIRPORTID 252AIRPORTTO 245ARRDATE 245ARRTIME 245CITY 252CONNECTID 238COUNTRY 252COUNTRY_ISO 252CURR 245DATE_RANGE 230, 231, 232DEPTIME 245FLIGHTDATE 245MAX_ROWS 231PRICE 245

BAPI_SALESORDER_GETLIST 192,

193, 213

CUSTOMER_NUMBER 194DOC_DATE 194DOC_STATUS 194

MATERIAL 194NAME 194


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Index

SALES_ORGANIZATION 194SD_DOC 194

BAPI_SALESORDER_GETSTATUS192, 202

SALESDOCUMENT 202

BAPI_SALESORDERS_GETLIST 216BEx 378

BEx Analyzer 90

BEx Query Designer 90, 305BEx Report Designer 90

BEx Suite 31, 41, 47, 87, 90, 378

BEx Web Application Designer 47,90

BEx workbook 389

BI 281

BI Consumer Services 281

BI Document Repository Manager

389

BI extension Kit for Visual Composer

47, 70, 75, 279

BI Integration Wizard 112, 286,

292, 313

BI JDBC Connector

MaxDB 317Microsoft SQL Server 316Oracle 317Setup 316

BI UDI 419

Board Toolbox 122

Design Board 122Layout Board 123Source Board 123

Bulleted List UI Controls

Busines Process Modeling 87

Business analyst 32, 47

Business application 39

Business content 60, 424

Business expert 32Business Intelligence 27, 46, 59,

182

Accessing 182Business package 38, 85, 180

Business Process Expert 32, 33, 47,

64

Business Process Expert Network

64

Business Process Management 27

Business Process Modeling 89

Business Server Pages (BSP) 391

C

Calendar UI Controls

Change Management Service 86

Characteristics 297, 321

Chart 212Column Chart 212

Chart Type 221

Chart ViewModel Components

Checkbox UI Controls

Clock UI Controls

Close ModelModel

Collaboration 42

com.sap.vc 253

epcm 253Combine operator 248

Creating 248Combo Box UI Controls

Command URL 295

Compiler 70, 72

Component Build Service (CBS) 86

Compose Task Panel Toolbar

Compose Model 195

Additional operators 195Connectors 195Operators 195

Composer Model 222Components 195Composite Applications 41, 436

Analytic Composites 41Conditional Functions Expression

Editor

Conditions 199

Configure Task Panel Toolbar

Configure ElementModel

Connector Framework 182

Connectors

Multidimensional 280Relational 280Control Properties UI Controls

Control Properties Dialog UI Con-

trols

Cost awareness 29

Count 321, 323

Creating views 186

CSV 393

Cumulative Total 321, 326

Currency 300

Custom Field


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Index

Creating 198Customer Relationship Manage-

ment 182

Accessing 182

D

Data Definition Language 426

Data fields 199

Data services 184

Accessing 183Required input fields 186

Data StoreModel Connectors

Data Type 142, 198, 199

Data Warehousing Workbench 424

Date Functions Expression Editor

Date Picker UI Controls

Date/time 321

Date/Time Formats Expression

Editor

Date/Time Formatting Mask

Expression Editor

Date/Time Parts Expression Editor

Date/Time Units Expression Edi-

tor

DDL 426

DefaultFlexFrameStyle 446Delta link 400, 401

Deploy Task Panel Toolbar

Deploy to Portal 190

Design Board 93

Design tab 93Design Time Repository (DTR) 68,

86, 408

Development class 425

Development server 77

Dimension table 308

Distinct

Model OperatorsDocument classes 389

Document Object Model (DOM) 74

Document Repository Manager 389

Document store 378

Documentation Wizard 99

Down port 403

Drag-and-drop 184

Drop-Down List UI Controls

Dynamic columns 298, 300, 372

Dynamic Expressions Expression

Editor

Dynamic Expressions Editor

Expression Editor

Dynamic Expressions OperatorsExpression Editor

Dynamic List List

E

Eclipse

Eclipse SDK 86Element

Configure 188, 189Deleting 188Marking 188Renaming 189

End PointModel Connectors

Enteprise services 437

Enterprise portal 28

Enterprise Portal Client Manager

(EPCM) 133, 253, 257

Enterprise Service Repository (ESR)

437

Enterprise Services Architecture

(ESA) 436

Enterprise SOA 39, 435, 436

Entity service 61

Entry List Manager 99EP Usage Type 42, 81

EPCM Event Eventing

ERP

Accessing 181Event

Name 208Raising 208

Eventing 251, 378

Event 133Signal in 133

Signal out 133Excel 393Exceptions 300, 346

Executable GUI language 63

Exporting to

CSV 397Excel 394PDF 397

Expression Box UI Controls

Expression Editor 129, 166, 199

Categories 167

Conditional Functions 172, 203


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518

Index

Date Functions 171Date/Time Formats 177Date/Time Formatting Mask 175Date/Time Parts 176Date/Time Units 176

Dynamic Expressions 192, 202Number Formatting Mask 174Numeric Functions 169Operators 173Scientific Functions 172Text Functions 167Time Functions 171

External key 297, 305

External services 61

F

F4-help 306

Field mapping 193

Field name 198

Fields 184

FilterModel Operators

Filtering 136

Filters

Key-figures 371Financial Instrument Controlling

431Find Data Task Panel Toolbar

Flash debugging console 421

Flexibility 29

Floor Plan

Guided Activity 40Forecasts 329

Form ViewModel Components

Formatted value 300

Formulas 419

Free form 323

Freestyle 35Freestyle Kit for Visual Composer

70, 75

G

Gauge -> s. UI Controls

Generalized Modeling Language(GML) 62, 72, 73, 85, 400

Generalized Modeling Language

Document Object Model (GML

DOM) 70

Generalized Modeling Language Plus

(GML+) 63

Grand Totals 321, 322Graphic engine 70, 71

GUI Machine 74

GUI Machine Language 74Guided Procedures 42, 87, 89, 131,

438

H

Hierarchy 297, 323

HTML 69, 71

HTML components 71

HTML Text UI Controls

HTML ViewModel Components

HTMLB 407

HTTP sniffing 317, 338

HTTP(S) 69

HttpWatch 318, 423

I

IF function 203

Image UI Controls

Image Manager 101

Images 154Inbound service template 379

InfoObject 301

InfoProvider Data 390

Information Integration Layer 27

Inheritance of attributes 407

Innovation 29

Input Field UI Controls

Input Form

Add 186Input Port 186, 193, 295, 304

Inspect Task Panel ToolbarIntegration broker 27Interaction problem 40

Internet Graphics Server (IGS) 315

INVALID_VARIABLE_VALUES 450IT architecture 436

IT specialist 34

iView 28, 38, 179


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519

Index

J

J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA)

182, 280

J2EE Engine

GUI Config Tool 399 J2EE Log Configurator 420

Java API 69

Java Connector (JCo) 182, 442

Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)

283

Java Dictionary 86

Java Server Pages (JSP) 78

Java stack 27, 28, 67

Database 68 JavaScript 71

K

Key figures 300, 371

Knowledge Management 27, 42,

378, 389

L

Language settings 451

Layer

Model ComponentsLayers

Adding 215Creating 216Navigation 218, 242Wizard 227

Layout Board Layout tab

Layout Manager 70, 71

Layout tab 93, 186Level 323

List

Dynamic List 101Static List 101Value Help List 101

List Box UI ControlsLocalization 409

Log Viewer 420

Logging 419Logon ticket 184

Lower Model Operators

M

Macromedia Flex Markup Langu-

age 64

Main Menu 94

BI 112Edit 96Help 114Model 94Search 96Tools 98, 192Window 114

Main Toolbar 116

Master Data 390

Master Data Management 27

MDX 338

Multidimensional expressions 286MDX Editor 112, 286, 338, 343

MDX injection 338

Measures 321

Member 322

Menu BI Main Menu

Menu EditMain Menu

Menu HelpMain Menu

Menu Model Main Menu

Menu Search Main Menu

Menu Tools

Main MenuMenu WindowMain Menu

Metadata 56, 184, 390

MetaObject facility 57

Microsoft Internet Explorer 52, 91

Microsoft Internet Information Ser-

ver 51, 67

Microsoft SQL Server 51, 67

Microsoft Windows 51

Microsoft XML 4.0 73, 91

Microsoft XML Parser 52

Mobile device 39Model

Basic Model 179Browse 96, 117Close 94Compile 98Components 126Compose 118, 125Configure Element 118Deploy 99Export 95

Export To File 95


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520

Index

Import 95Import From File 95Inspect 120Manage 95New 94

Open 94Print 95Save 95Search 98

Model Browser 95

Model Components

Chart View 128, 212, 221Form View 126, 187, 222HTML View 129iView 179Layer 131Nested iView 130Package 180Page 180Table View 127

Model Connectors 132

Data Store 134, 167, 221, 223,244, 248, 406

End Point 132, 210Popup Signal 135Signal In 133Signal Out 133Start Point 132, 209Timer 135User Data 134, 167

Model Operators 136

Combine 141Distinct 139Filter 136Group 141Intersect 140Lower 138

Sigma 137Sort 137Subtract 140Union 139Upper 138

Model persistence 67

Model-driven architecture 57

Model-driven development 35

Directness 37Exploratory 35Expressiveness 37

Extensibility 37Principles 35

Reusability 36Simplicity 36

Model-driven tools 35 Model-to-code approach 39

Model-View-Controller (MVC) 78

Architecture 78 MOF 57

Moving average 321, 328

Multi Channel Access 28 Multidimensional connectors 280

MXML 72, 78, 85

N

Naming rules 94

Nested iViewModel Components

Number Formatting Mask Expres-

sion Editor

Numbered List UI Controls

Numeric Functions Expression

Editor

O

Object Management Group 57

OLAP 285

OLE DB for OLAP (ODBO) 286Open ModelModel

Options 192

Outbound service template 379

P

Package 425

PAR file 78, 401PDF 393

People Integration Layer 27

Percentage Growth 321, 334Percentage Share 321, 325

Perforce 408

Permissions 92, 184Personalization 134, 167, 408

Perspective 86

Pivot control 377Plain Text UI Controls

Planned vs. Actual 321, 335

Planning functionality 392Popup iView 135, 207

Adding functionality 208, 210


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521

Index

Creating 207Open 207Select 207

Popup SignalModel Connectors

Port

Flipping 230Portal archive 401

Portal Connector 80, 83, 419

Portal Connector Framework 80,83, 85

Portal Content Catalog 81, 110, 257

Portal Content Directory (PCD) 78,81, 82, 92

Portal deployment 419

Portal eventing 421

Portal page 180

Portlet 28

Ports 184

Process chain 462

Process Integration Layer 27

Progress Bar 240

Progress Bar UI Controls

Pushbutton UI Controls

Q

Query 435Query Designer 305

R

Radio Group UI Controls

Rank Change 321, 330

Relational connectors 280

Remote Function Call (RFC) 435

Return on investment (ROI) 29

RFC 391

Accessing 184RFC library 182Rich client 39

Rich Internet Applications 72

Roles 184RSRT2 371

S

SAP Composite Application Frame-work 31, 41, 49, 59, 61, 87, 88,

438

SAP List Viewer (ALV) 377

SAP NetWeaver 26, 43

SAP NetWeaver Application Server27

Java stack 43

SAP NetWeaver Business Intelli-gence 27, 281

SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio

31, 41, 48, 78SAP NetWeaver Development Infra-

structure 68, 86

SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management 27

SAP NetWeaver Portal 27, 28, 43,

68, 80, 85

Connector Framework 38Content Catalog 38System Landscape 38

SAP NetWeaver Portal Content Stu-

dio 30

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer

31

Add-Ons 52, 80, 81Architecture 68Client 69Components 68Configuration 105, 106, 107, 109Console 124Convergence 63Core 70Customizing 104Deploy applications 190Kits 70, 75Logging off 95Logging on 92Navigation 98Navigation back 98

Navigation Bar 123Navigation forward 98Prerequisites 91Repository 77Roadmap 42Server 68, 75, 85, 419Storyboard 68, 69, 85, 93Storyboard components 70

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer for

NetWeaver 2004s 42, 43

Supported platforms 44, 51

Supported UI technologies 44, 51SAP Query 282


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522

Index

SAP Query application 282

SAP system adapter 182

SAP Visual Administrator 316SAP Visual Composer 6.0 42

SAP xApp Analytics 43, 46, 427

SAP_JDBC 406Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 70,

71

Scientific Functions ExpressionEditor

Scorecarding 427

Best Practices 427SE80 391

SEM 427

Serialization error 456

Service 435

Service consumer 435

Service provider 435

Service Repository 435

Service request 435

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

435

Severity 420

SigmaModel Operators

Signal In Model Connectors

Signal OutModel Connectors

Single Sign-On (SSO) 92, 442

SOAP 285

SortModel Operators

Sort Operator 195

Add 195Configure 196Direction 197

Sorting 137, 195, 370

Source Board Source Tab

Source tab 93

Special characters 407

Spinner

UI ControlsSQL editor 112, 285, 338

SQL field 285

SQL injection 317, 338

Standardized UI 40

Start PointModel Connectors

Static List List

Store 391

Stored procedure 435

Storing global data 134

Strategic Enterprise Management

427Styles 199

Suppress sum 303

SWF see Adobe Flash file

System alias 92, 441System Alias Manager 102

System landscape 82, 85, 184

System types 184

T

Table View 192, 194

Add 194Table Columns 195

Table ViewModel Components

Task panel 117, 183

Task Panel Toolbar 117, 183

Browse 117Compose 118Configure 118Deploy 120Find Data 120Inspect 120

Test Data Service 185

Text editor 162

Text Functions Expression Editor

Ticker UI Controls

Tile View 407

Time Functions

Expression EditorTimerModel Connectors

Toggle Button UI Controls

Toolbar 205

Adding a button 206Creating 205Removing 207

Tools MenuMain Menu

Top N 321, 331, 336

Total cost of ownership (TCO) 29,

40

Transactional applications 181Translation

Formula 419Text string 418Worklists 409

Translation Localization

Translation files 409

Translation information 85

Transport 399, 425

Transport Package Tool 400

Treasury and Financial Investment

Controlling 430


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Index

Web services 43, 83, 406

Systems 43Web UI 39WEBAPI 295

Wizard Layers

Wizards 131Work Center 438

Workbook 389

Workspace environment 70World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

74

Write back 460WSDL 43, 102, 259

X

xApps 87

XGraph language (XGL) 37, 72, 85

XMI 58

XML 69XML for Analysis (XMLA) 285

Y

Year-to-date 326

YTD 326

Z

Zero Activity 321, 336

Z-order 221