Skip to content

Setting Up Mobile Services for Mobile Development Kit

Setting Up Landscape

Set up your landscape to begin using Mobile Development Kit.

Begin by setting up the following:

Set up Description Link
SAP Business Technology Platform Cockpit Set up SAP Business Technology Platform cockpit to build, deploy, and manage your applications. Getting a Global Account
SAP Mobile Services Set up SAP mobile service cockpit to administer your applications. Getting Started with SAP Mobile Services)

Creating Apps on SAP Mobile Services

As an administrator, you can create Mobile Development Kit applications using the SAP mobile service cockpit, in both Cloud Foundry and Neo environment.

This interface enables you to manage your apps.

You can view information about the APIs, user registrations, and usage analytics of your Mobile Development Kit app type. You can also perform operations such as delete, export, and much more on your app though this interface.

  1. On the Home screen of the SAP mobile service cockpit, select Create New App.

  2. Depending on the environment perform the following step:

    • Cloud Foundry: In the New Application window,
    • Fill in the details like ID, Name, Description, Supplier, and License Type. For more information about these fields, check Defining Applications. Choose Next.
    • In the XSUAA Settings screen, provide the necessary details, if applicable. Choose Next.
    • From the Assign Features for drop-down, select Mobile Development Kit Application. Choose Finish.
    • Neo: In the New Application window, select Mobile Development Kit from the Config Templates drop-down. Fill in the details like ID, Name, Description, and Supplier. For more information about these fields, check Defining Applications. Choose Save.

    Once you have created your application, you see a list of features that are automatically assigned to the app.

  3. To view a list of all your apps, select Mobile Applications > Native/MDK.

  4. Click on the desired app to see the Application Details screen, which shows the ID, Name, Description, Supplier, and a list of features assigned to the app.

  5. To add features to your app, select the + button on the right side of your Assigned Features list, choose or search for a desired feature and click OK. Alternatively, you can select your desired feature from the Features screen and select Add to Application.

App Security

Mobile Development Kit Applications only support OAuth for client authentication. While creating a new app using the SAP mobile service cockpit, if you select Mobile Development Kit Application for the Assign Features For option in Cloud Foundry Environment or if you select the Mobile Development Kit for the Config Templates option, then OAuth is assigned as the default Security Configuration.

Managing Your App Life Cycle with App Update

App Update simplifies the app development life cycle allowing you to deliver updates to your application without the need to distribute a new binary version through the app store or MDM solution, reducing the time-to-user for those updates.

While creating a new app using the SAP mobile service cockpit, if you select Mobile Development Kit Application for the Assign Features For option in Cloud Foundry Environment then the Mobile App Update feature is enabled for the app by default or if you select the Mobile Development Kit for the Config Templates option, then the App Update feature is enabled for the app by default.

  1. Select the App Update > Configuration tab to display the configuration page, where you can view the version details of your app:
    • New - a version that has been uploaded to the cockpit, but not yet deployed to the users.
    • Current - the version that is currently being used by the users. New versions of the app appear in the configuration page if deployed directly from Mobile Development Kit editor. For details, check Deploying app metadata from SAP Business Application Studio or SAP Web IDE to mobile services.
  2. If the deployment of app metadata directly from Mobile Development Kit editor fails,
  3. Select the Upload icon in the top-right corner.
  4. Import the .zip file containing the app metadata for the new version of your app from your local system, and then click Upload. The status of a newly uploaded app or a newer version of an app appears as New Version.
  5. To deploy the new app version to the Current state, select Actions > Deploy.

  6. (Optional) To delete a new version of the app, select the Delete icon. You cannot delete an app in the Current state, you must instead deploy a new version to the Current state.

    To download the .zip file, - In SAP Business Application Studio editor - open a New Terminal via Terminal menu, and execute mdk build command as explained here. The uploadBundle.zip file is available in .Build folder in your project path. Download the zip file on your local machine by right clicking on it. - In the SAP Web IDE editor - select Download application bundle to local machine option while deployment.

Configuring Offline Settings (Optional)

This is an optional configuration. Configure the offline settings only if your Mobile Development Kit app is intended to be used offline. The configuration settings are made in application configuration .ini file. For more information, check Defining Offline Settings For Applications.

Tutorial

Set Up Initial Configuration for a Mobile Development Kit App

Last update: September 12, 2022