Overview of UI Technologies and Key Features

Web Dynpro ABAP is the standard SAP UI technology for developing Web applications in the ABAP environment. It is also the basis for other UI frameworks in this environment.

• Web Dynpro ABAP

  You can use Web Dynpro ABAP to develop complex business applications based on specific requirements.

• Web Dynpro ABAP Configuration Framework

  You can use the Web Dynpro ABAP Configuration Framework to customize Web Dynpro applications without touching the code, and to define the range in which your users can personalize these applications further.

• Floorplan Manager (FPM)

  FPM is a powerful framework for building user interfaces for web-based business applications including complex transactional applications. Its provision of multiple templates/patterns allows for easy and efficient application development and adaptation. This is particularly so when FPM is used in conjunction with object models such as BOL and BOPF; development is reduced to configuration and little or no coding. FPM is based on Web Dynpro ABAP.

• Web Dynpro ABAP Page Builder (Page Builder)

  The Page Builder is a framework that enables administrators to put together Web Dynpro applications with no, or hardly any, programming required.

• Launchpads

  A launchpad is a collection of navigation links that is stored as a separate technical object in the system.

• Personal Object Worklist (POWL)

  You can use a POWL to provide a general overview of the work environment of a business user and all related business objects.

Organized by user role, the SAP Fiori launchpad is the central entry point to SAP Fiori apps on mobile or desktop devices, where users launch apps using tiles. Additionally, it can be enriched with specific analytical reports. Which tiles are displayed on a user’s entry page depends on the user’s role. The launchpad is a shell that provides services for navigation, personalization, single sign-on, and search, and theming and branding support.

You need to configure the SAP Fiori launchpad so that users can access the apps that have been assigned to their respective role using the SAP Fiori launchpad designer, an administrator tool that runs in the browser.

The UI development toolkit for HTML5, better known as SAPUI5, is a client-side HTML5 and JavaScript-based rendering library with a rich extensible control set and a light weight programming model for building desktop applications as well as mobile applications. It provides capabilities to be integrated into SAP NetWeaver Application Server for ABAP with the SAPUI5 ABAP Repository.

Using UI theme designer you can create your own themes to adapt the visual appearance of applications.

SAP NetWeaver user interfaces offers a set of back-end and front-end services that facilitate the interoperability of applications, technologies, and infrastructure across shells or standalone in browsers.

These services facilitate the adoption of new UI technologies such as SAPUI5 while leveraging previous UI investments such as WDA and SAP GUI.

To decouple your UI, you use OData services for ABAP back-end systems based on an OData channel that is part of SAP Gateway. To couple to a new UI technology, you use front-end services.

APIs are available on different layers:

• JavaScript services provide integration capabilities and simplify access to data from back-end systems

• OData services are consumed by the front-end services and allow you to retrieve data from back-end systems using SAP Gateway.

• ABAP APIs are consumed by the OData services mentioned above. You can use these APIs to create your own services for maximum flexibility. ABAP APIs are available for /UI2/LAUNCHPAD service only.

NWBC is a user interface that presents a unified environment for and a single entry point to different SAP business applications and technologies. It is a high-fidelity shell that integrates various UI technologies and design generations aimed at a more efficient, intuitive, and complete user experience over different UI technologies. Within the SAP NetWeaver Business Client, users can move seamlessly between Web Dynpro, SAP GUI transactions and other content.

SAP Visual Business is a user interface technology that visualizes data from SAP and external data sources on a single screen. SAP Visual Business applications not only combine different types of content, but also include interactive graphics that visualize and combine enterprise data with geographical or three-dimensional real-world scenes. You can use SAP Visual Business applications both to display and to transact with back-end system data, since you have your enterprise data at hand as well as interactions you need to control various business situations. The visual presentation makes the data much more tangible to the user, without the need for detailed explanations on fields, tabs, and in tables.

SAP Jam Integration allows you to easily integrate the social collaboration platform SAP Jam across SAP technologies, including Web Dynpro, ABAP, and SAPUI5. This allows you to reap the benefits of SAP Jam to accelerate business and drive results by connecting your customers, partners, and employees with key information and processes in the Cloud, whether you are using the SAP Fiori launchpad or an application on the SAP NetWeaver Application Server for ABAP.

• Collaboration SAPUI5 Reusable Feed Component
• Collaboration SAPUI5 Reusable Share Component
• Social Media Catalog and SAP Jam Group Tiles in SAP Fiori launchpad

SAP GUI is SAP's universal client for accessing SAP functionality in SAP applications such as - SAP ERP, SAP Business Suite (SAP CRM, SAP SCM and SAP PLM), SAP Business Intelligence and so on. SAP GUI functions like a browser. It gets information from the SAP server like what, where, when and how, to display contents in its window. All members of the SAP GUI family have unique attributes that make them especially suited for different user environments.

The SAP Web Application Server provides a page-based programming model with server-side scripting as well as server page technology for developing, designing and implementing Web applications: Business Server Pages (BSP). Server-side scripting enables direct access to all elements in the application server (such as function modules, database tables, ABAP Objects, and so on).

SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe is a joint solution of SAP and Adobe that provides form creation and manipulation capabilities. The solution is tightly integrated into the SAP design time and runtime environments. It enables form-based processing of business data and can be used in various different application development environments.

In the Java environment you use Web Dynpro Java or Visual Composer to develop user interfaces. In addition the SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal provides many options to customize the user interface or develop new user interfaces

For a full UI Technologies road map, go to SAP Service Marketplace underhttp://service.sap.com/saproadmaps and choose  Cross-Topics  Product Road Maps  SAP User Interface Technologies .