Personalization 

Personalization is when end users or administrators adapt an application to their personal requirements. They do this at the iViews level on the SAP Netweaver Portal during Web Dynpro application runtime.

All personalization data is stored in the Portal Content Directory (PCD). That means in detail that the data is stored in the iView and in the end stored as iView properties. These properties are NOT visible in the standard iView editor but they are stored with the iView object.

If an iView is transported to another portal all these properties are also transported. This is needed to make sure that role-specific changes could be transported together with the role. End user personalization data is NOT transported in this way as end user personalization is only local to the current portal.

The changes that a user or an administrator makes are not visible to the application developer. The personalization options are restricted so as not to affect the Web Dynpro application functionality.

Prerequisites

Personalization is automatically available for each Web Dynpro application on the SAP Netweaver  Portal.

You can disable personalization by setting AllowUserPersonalization in the Web Dynpro runtime environment configuration screen to false. The default setting for this value is true.

See also Configuring the Web Dynpro Runtime Environment

Features

The scope of the personalization functions depends on whether personalization is performed by an administrator based on roles, or by an individual user for that user only. If the administrator makes a setting but does not define it as final, this setting can be overwritten by the user.

Administrators

Roles can be personalized by an administrator. To do this, the administrator starts an iView in preview mode and opens the personalization dialog by choosing Ctrl while simultaneously pressing the secondary mouse button.

The following options are available:

●      Disable personalization at iView level.

●      Remove a UI element from the user interface by setting visible to NONE. (UI elements, which are defined as invisible by the Web Dynpro application cannot be made visible.)

●      Modify individual properties of a UI element. The properties that you can change depend on the UI element in question. However, you can always reset a property to original.

●      Rearrange columns in a table or lines in a form.

●      Insert additional UI elements using decorate. These UI elements are only for decorative or informative purposes and have no impact on the functionality of an application.

●      Marking settings as final. This prevents end users from making any further changes of their own.

●      Edit customer enhancement fields. After choosing Edit Customer Enhancement Fields in the personalization dialog window, you see the context nodes that contain customer enhancement fields. You can then select the appropriate UI elements for these fields and add them to the iView.

End Users

To personalize Web Dynpro applications on the SAP Netweaver Portal, the user positions the mouse pointer on the relevant UI element and presses Ctrl + secondary mouse button.

The following options are available:

●      Remove a UI element from the user interface by setting visible to NONE.

●      Arrange the table columns according to specific requirements..

●      Reset some or all personalization settings to original.

Activities

The personalization options are realized by Implicit Configuration. This is preset by the Web Dynpro Framework, and the value set by the application developer is edited automatically. This does not entail any additional programming tasks for the application developer.

Versioning

Some basic rules must be observed with regard to versioning. If, for example, you are editing an application for a new release, you are not allowed to change the names of the following elements in your application:

●      Component Usage

●      InterfaceView

●      Implementing class (this where the role names – which you are also not able to change – are set)

●      Name of the view and the role names specified there

●      UI element IDs

If you are programming dynamically, there is no need to assign IDs to the UI elements. These are assigned automatically when an instance is created. You are therefore not allowed to change the sequence in which the UI elements are instantiated, as this would result in the loss of personalization settings.

Additional Links:

For information on customer enhancements fields, see Adaptive RFC

Configuring the Web Dynpro Runtime Environment