Developing Mobile Applications for Occasional Connection 

This IT scenario variant allows you to develop mobile applications quickly and efficiently, as well as to enhance existing SAP Solutions for Mobile Business. Specialized development tools in the back end, SAP NetWeaver Application Server, and SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio support the software developer when creating a mobile solution.

Architecture of the IT Scenario Variant

A mobile application consists of three parts that are developed in sequence in specialized development tools.

●     On the mobile device, the user operates the user interface of the mobile application. The application uses interfaces (APIs) provided by the SAP MI client for data persistence, synchronization, tracing, logging and so on.

●     The SAP NetWeaver Application Server recognizes the application’s metadata, such as the definition of the synchronizer business objects (SyncBOs) or the Mobile Component Descriptors (MCD).

●     In the application back end, all the application data is original. This is where all the validations take place, as well as the data access during replication.

Required and Optional Installable Units

To use this IT scenario, you require the following systems with activated usage types:

●     Mobile Infrastructure (MI)

●     Development Infrastructure (DI)

●     Application Server ABAP (AS ABAP)

●     Application Server Java (AS-JAVA)

For more information about the system landscape required, see the Master Guide.

IT Processes of the IT Scenario Variant

This IT scenario variant comprises the following IT processes:

Process	Description
Defining Business Process	The developer defines which business objects (BOs) are to be made mobile in the application back end. The instances of these BOs are replicated at a later point in time on the mobile device. If no suitable BOs exist, RFC-enabled function modules are developed.
Defining BO Model	The developer creates SyncBOs by defining additional replication-relevant properties of the BOs. The replication model is completed by grouping the SyncBOs of an application and generating an XML description of the model.
Developing at Client Side	The developer generates an executable client application from the XML file and enhances it with the standard Java development tools. The application uses the MI client API for synchronization, replication, persistence, and other services.
Deploying and Testing	The developer uses the tools of the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio to efficiently test the application on a local MI client installation.

Additional Information

The following role-specific guides contain further information about this IT scenario variant:

Task Area	Guide
Development	Mobile Development Kit (MDK): SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio ® Help ® Help Contents ® SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio Documentation ® SAP Mobile Development Kit (MDK)