1 Overview

SAP NetWeaver Business Client (NWBC) is a rich UI client that offers a single point of entry to SAP applications, especially harmonizing access to existing SAP GUI transactions and newly developed applications based on Web Dynpro. NWBC itself is a high-fidelity shell that aims at harmonizing the user experience over different UI technologies.

NWBC is shipped in the following variants:

• NWBC for Desktop is a .NET-based application that targets the power user. In this scenario, the SAP GUI itself is used as rendering engine, if installed. NWBC effectively replaces SAP GUI as main entry point to SAP applications; however, it does use SAP GUI to run existing applications.

• NWBC for HTML is a browser-based shell (only available for ABAP systems) for casual use scenarios. Within this environment, all SAP GUI transactions are rendered using the SAP GUI for HTML rendering engine.

NWBC for HTML as a light version is only supported for ABAP systems, using established roles from PFCG. NWBC for Desktop can also run on single ABAP systems with the PFCG as role repository, or on an SAP NetWeaver Portal using the PCD as role repository.

Both variants of NWBC implement the same design (with slight variations to improve performance depending on the rendering technology). With the interaction model aligned, the different variants look the same at first glance.

This chapter looks at different general aspects of NWBC:

• 1.1 Business Client Versions

  Lists the different versions of NWBC that have been shipped to date.

• 1.2 What Is New for NWBC 3.5

  Lists new and changed functions in NWBC 3.5.

• 1.3 Technology Block Diagram

  Provides an overview of NWBC central components. The role repository of PFCG in ABAP systems is compared to the PCD in the portal. Additionally, the session tab paradigm of NWBC 1 is compared to the multi-window approach of NWBC 3.