SAP NetWeaver Development Infrastructure 

The SAP NetWeaver Development Infrastructure (short: NWDI) combines the characteristics and advantages of local development environments – as usually provided in a Java environment – with a server-based development landscape that centrally provides a consistent development environment to development teams and supports the software development through the entire lifecycle of a product.

SAP NetWeaver Development Infrastructure – Overview on the Services of the NWDI

 

The NWDI supports development with the following services:

·        Design Time Repository (DTR)
Versioning source code management; distributed development of software in teams; transport and replication of sources

·        Component Build Service (CBS)
Central build of the source files in the DTR based on the component model

·        Change Management Service (CMS)
Central administration of the Java development landscape and the transports covering the entire software life cycle.

In addition, the use of the following services, which do not belong to the NWDI, is integrated into the development processes:

·        System Landscape Directory (SLD)
Information on the system landscape

·        Name Service
Central check instance for the uniqueness of names.

·        Java Dictionary
Supports the global definition of tables and data types

·        SAP Java Test Tools
Predefined static tests and runtime tests for the Java development

To configure the development environment, you use the development configuration. By importing a development configuration into the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, the access paths for the used services are automatically set, for example, the URI of the used DTR. Thus, the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio provides the developer with access to all required services of the NWDI.

You can develop in the development infrastructure either according to the component model or in Eclipse projects.

Whether you want to use the individual services for your development projects, and to which extent, depends on your development scenarios:

·        Scenario ”Java Projects with Central Source File Storage”

In this scenario, you use the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio as the development environment and the Design Time Repository to store your source files in versions.

·        Scenario “Developing Components with the NWDI“

You develop in the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio in accordance with the component model. To administer the development landscape, you use the Change Management Service, in which also the development configurations are created.. For the central build process, you use the Component Build Service. Layered development is also possible in this scenario.

For more information, see Development Scenarios with the NWDI.

Using SAP Components

In the Development-Configurations perspective in the SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, you see the development components provided by SAP (software components SAP-JTECH and SAP-JEE).

You can use these components in your applications. However, beware that SAP can change or delete their interfaces in future releases without prior notice.

If an SAP development component provides a guaranteed interface, this will be documented explicitly.

If you are in doubt concerning a certain component, contact the SAP Support with a problem message.

Features

Above all, the development infrastructure centrally provides a consistent development environment that covers the entire software lifecycle.

·        Central management of source files in the Design Time Repository.

¡        Developers can download the up-to-date state of the source code at any time.

¡        All changes to the sources of a product are recorded and can be traced at any time.

¡        Separation of different development projects by providing ”logical storages”, the DTR workspaces.

¡        Transport of objects, thereby keeping all version information, between repositories; the DTR thus allows synchronization for distributed development and provides the basis for a modification concept.

¡        Storing all objects in a database allows you to make central backups and thus prevent the loss of development work.

·        Central management of all archives required for a development project in the Component Build Service.

¡        A component-based build process on demand of the developer.

¡        Central storage of all objects in a database. Developers can download the up-to-date state of the required archives at any time.

¡        Separation of different development projects by providing ”logical storages”, the buildspaces.

·        The entire software life cycle is administered centrally in the Change Management Service.

¡        Development configurations connect the local development environment with the central infrastructure.

¡        All developers involved in one project share access to the same consistent environment.

¡        Workspaces and buildspaces are created automatically.

¡        Deployment it automated for all development phases.

¡        Automated processes (workflow) for provision, distribution, quality assurance, test and final assembly.

·        The SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio supports the creation and local build of components.

¡        The locally built components can then, for example, be deployed for testing purposes in a local runtime system.

¡        For the local compilation of components, the same collection of compilers and generators is available as for the assigned Component Build Service. They are themselves components and as such they are provided by the Build Service just like any other component.

¡        Locally compiled components can then, for example, be deployed for testing purposes into a local runtime system.

·        All development objects (sources, libraries) are stored in the local file system of the development environment; thus they are available to third-party tools that are not integrated in the Developer Studio.

·        The SAP NetWeaver Java Development Infrastructure allows you to construct central test landscapes with an automatic deployment of changes.