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Window

A window represents the sum total of all views making up an application's visual interface. Once a view has been created, it will not be visible on the front end device until it has first been embedded into a window. As soon as a view is declared to be a member of any particular window, it can be made visible on the front end client device.

The task of creating the first window for any given component is performed automatically when the component is first declared. Thereafter, the existence of new windows can be declared as required.

From a development perspective, the window defines two things:

  • The superset of all possible views that could be displayed for one particular visual interface of the component
  • The navigation paths that exist between those views

A Web Dynpro component has two interfaces - one visual and one programmatic. The visual interface is supplied through the interface view controller. There is a one-to-one relationship between an interface view controller and a corresponding window.

View

A view describes the layout and behavior of a rectangular area of a user interface (UI). Every Web Dynpro application has at least one view. It is made up of different UI elements, which, depending on their types, can be nested. The positioning of UI elements in one view is supported by the supplied layout variants. The layout is the visual part of the view.

In addition to the layout, a view also contains a programmatic part, the view controller. The data shown in the UI elements of the view are stored and managed in the data storage area (view context) of the view controller, enabling them to be represented or used on the screen. The view controller can contain methods for data retrieval or for processing user input.

Empty View

The empty view is a special type of view. This view requires no manual implementation, neither is it possible to interact with it in any way other than invoking its default inbound plug ( showEmptyView ).

If you require one particular area within a view to be empty, then you should use the empty view in this area. You can then treat this view just like any other view you have written, except that calling it will cause the corresponding view area to be blanked out.

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