Value Help Based on Modelled View

The following figure depicts the components involved and development activites required to provide the value help option based on modeled value help view.

Figure 1: Providing value help based on modeled view

1. Identify the data source for your modeled view

   You can use a database table or database view, or a suitable CDS view as the data source for the value help view to be modeled. In our sample code, we use the predefined CDS view SEPM_I_BusinessPartner_E, which represents a business partner data definition from the EPM data model.

2. Create a data definition with a CDS view that serves as a modeled value help view

   The following set of CDS annotations is relevant for modeled value help views:

   The annotations (required) at view level are:

   Annotation and Value	Effect
   @Search.searchable: true	These annotations is necessary to define that the search function is supported for the view.
   @EndUserText.label: '<text>'	Specifies the heading text that will be visible in the value help dialog

   The annotations (required) on the field level are:

   Annotation and Value	Effect
   @Search.defaultSearchElement: true	Denotes that it is possible to search for the annotated field in the freestyle search field in the value help dialog
   @Search.fuzzinessThreshold: <value>	Defines how fuzzy the text search applied to the annotated field should be For example, the value 0.8 refers to a similarity of 80%.

   Note Recommendation: When defining a modeled value help view, add the suffix ...ValueHelp (or VH if an abbreviation is needed). Examples: I_ServiceProductValueHelp or C_SalesOrderSchedulineLineVH. Accordingly, its label text should end with ...Value Help.

   Example:

   In this example, the CDS view ZDEMO_I_BP_ValueHelp selects dedicated fields for the value help from the core business data view SEPM_I_BusinessPartner_E. The annotation @EndUserText.label provides a text that will be displayed in the heading of the value help dialog. The annotations @Search.searchable: true and Search.defaultSearchElement: true are necessary to define that the search function is supported.

     ...
   	
     @EndUserText.label: 'Business Partner Value Help'
     @Search.searchable: true
   	
     define view ZDEMO_I_BP_ValueHelp as select from SEPM_I_BusinessPartner_E {
   	
   	key BusinessPartner,    
   	BusinessPartnerRole, 
   	@Search.defaultSearchElement: true
   	@Search.fuzzinessThreshold: 0.8
   	CompanyName, 
   	LegalForm, 
   	EmailAddress
     }  
   	
   

3. Assign the value help to the relevant field of the consumer view

   To enable value help in the Fiori app, the following two additions in the consumer view are required:

   a. First, add the association to the value help provider view that contains the value list.

   b. Then add the annotation @Consumption.valueHelp to the field for which a value help should be made available.

   The annotation (required) at the field level:

   Annotation and Value

   Effect

   @Consumption.valueHelp: '<_AssocToValueHelpProvider>'

   Assigns the association ‘_AssocToValueHelpProvider’ to the annotated view field: The association’s target view (modeled view) serves as a value help provider and is used to retrieve the values of the value help. Note When you add this annotation, enhanced modeling options are available to you, in contrast to the foreign key-based value help approach: you can specify a dedicated DCL, provide a specific set of fields (display fields), and even define specific WHERE conditions.

   More on this: Consumption Annotations

   Example:

   The consumer view ZDEMO_C_BP_CONSUMER in the listing below defines a data model for the sales order header. Here, the association _BusinessPartnerValueHelp with the target view that represents a value field list for business partner data (ZDEMO_I_BP_ValueHelp) is also defined. This association defines a value help for the annotated field SO.BusinessPartner using the @Consumption.valueHelp annotation

     ...
     define view ZDEMO_C_BP_CONSUMER as select from SEPM_I_SalesOrder_E as SO
   	
     // Association to BP value help               
     association [0..1] to ZDEMO_I_BP_ValueHelp as _BusinessPartnerValueHelp
   	    on $projection.BusinessPartner = _BusinessPartnerValueHelp.BusinessPartner  
     ...
     { 
   	/* Field list */
    	...
   	
   	@Consumption.valueHelp: '_BusinessPartnerValueHelp'
   	SO.BusinessPartner,  
   	...
   	
   	/* List of associations */
   	...
   	_BusinessPartnerValueHelp
     }
   	
   

4. Expose the value help as an OData Service

   Create either an OData service automatically by adding the annotation @OData.publish: true into the consumer view or manually using the SEGW transaction. In the latter case, you must expose the association to the value help provider view.

   More on this: Generating an OData Service Based on a CDS View

The figure below gives an idea of what the value help dialog based on the modeled value help view looks like. Note that in the case of the modeled help view, all those fields that are defined in the underlying modeled help view (ZDEMO_I_BP_ValueHelp) are displayed in the value help dialog. The header text in this dialog originates from the modeled value help view through the @EndUserText.label annotation.

Figure 2: Help value dialog that results from the modeled view