6.7.2 Creating Tags in the Tag Table

Use

You can use tags to exchange data between an application running in the content area and the side panel. Tags relate to properties of the UI elements that you extract from an SAP GUI transaction using SAP GUI Property Collector. You map the collected properties to tags and pass them to the side panel. The tag table stores the tags in the SAP back-end system. This table is read by NWBC at runtime and controls the extraction process. The relevant properties are identified by the program name, the screen name, and the field ID.

Note

The tags provided by SAP are contained in the maintenance view NWBC_VS_GUI_TAG. When you create tags in the maintenance view that have the same key as the tags provided by SAP, you override the SAP content.

Prerequisites

You have selected the relevant fields in an SAP GUI transaction using SAP GUI Property Collector and copied them to the Windows clipboard.

Procedure

To insert the data that you have extracted using SAP GUI Property Collector, proceed as follows:

In Customizing for SAP NetWeaver, choose Application Server Frontend Services NetWeaver Business Client Define SAP GUI Tags .
Choose the Maintain pushbutton.
Choose the New Entries pushbutton.

Insert the properties from the Windows clipboard into the table by pressing CTRL + V .
Specify a tag name and a description. We recommend that you use a namespace for the tag name.

You can use the input help to select tags. For more information, see Tagging Framework .
You can use asterisks (*) for the Program Name field and the Screen field if the same SAP GUI field is used on multiple screens or in multiple programs. For example, you can use 1* for all screens that start with 1 (100, 101, 110, 120, and so on).
Note
In case of duplicate tag names, the “bigger” tag determined by the following rules wins:
1. Customer tag > SAP tag
2. Tag with a more specific screen number wins, for example:
  
  “301” > “”
  
  “301” > “3*”
  
  “301” > “301*”
  
  “30*” > “3*”
You can use constants. In this case, you use a special syntax instead of pasting the properties from the clipboard. In the Property (SAP GUI Scripting) field, enter value:<constant> .

Example
A use case for constants is the assignment of business object types to screens. This is useful for generic side panel applications that interpret the business object type.
Select the lifetime for the property. You have the following options:
- Transaction
  
  The data context stays available as long as the current transaction is running in NWBC.
- Main Screen
  
  The data context stays available as long as you do not leave the main screen.
By entering a data element, you can control the data extraction to convert from external to internal format on the application system by using the conversion service. This mechanism is helpful if the processing logic of the side panel application needs the appropriate format for calling the application system. The data element is then used to derive the appropriate conversion exit on the application system.
Specify a development package.
Save your entries.
Restart NWBC for Desktop.

For more information, see the field help.

The tag exposes the referenced property value to the NWBC data context. From the selection screen, you can display, create, edit, or transport the tags. Note that an area of SAP GUI tags is always transported.

Note

You can create multiple tags for the same field. For example, for field FIELD_1, you have created two tags TAG_1 and TAG_2. For the CHIP import parameter PARAMETER_1, there are also two tags available: TAG_1 and TAG_2. The automatic wiring does not work here. In the Page Builder data context, it is not known that the tags TAG_1 and TAG_2 refer to the same field. Therefore, there is a conflict whether import parameter PARAMETER_1 is to be associated with TAG_1 or TAG_2. We recommend that you do not define multiple tags for CHIP import parameters.

More Information

Tagging

6.7.1 Identification of UI Elements with SAP GUI Property Collector

Setting Up Tagging in the Side Panel