Tutorial Part 8: Create Dashboard with Context App
This tutorial is part of a course that explains how to create and register apps for the Dashboard Framework. In this eighth part, you learn about context apps.
These allow you to specify the configuration settings for all apps in a dashboard at dashboard level, rather than at app level (as is the case for a configuration app). The relevant context app is always visible in the corresponding dashboard, which means you are not required to access this first to configure settings.
Since it is always visible, you can see when you need to use a configuration app and when you need to use a context app:
You should use a configuration app for configuration settings that you need to make once or seldom, such as defining the system whose data you want to display. For this purpose, you do not need to display this setting constantly.
In the same way, you should choose a context app for settings that you need to change regularly in normal use, for example, the period for which the data is to be displayed.
The example of the period, in particular, also shows the benefits of the second distinction, namely that the context settings apply to all the apps in a dashboard. By making a simple change, for example, you can modify the period for all the apps in a dashboard, which can significantly accelerate comparisons if the apps are structured appropriately.
When you use a context app, the focus of the information shifts from the individual app to the dashboard as a whole, since the required data is displayed in full at dashboard level only, as defined by the context.
The first time a dashboard is called up, it is empty. To ensure that it is filled with the required apps, you specify in the dashboard definition that an initialization BAdI is called when the dashboard is started. This BAdI ensures that the dashboard is then filled with the intended apps (that is, the context app and the standard apps).
Prerequisites
This part of the tutorial builds on the fourth part (Tutorial Part 4: Create Complex App with Configuration App), which you should have completed first. If you only want to work through this part of the tutorial, you can replace the files required from the fourth part with files delivered by SAP.
Required File | Steps to create the required file |
|---|---|
Xcelsius file of the app from part 4 (ztut4_metrics_month.xlf) | Start the registration tool, select the app You can now download the required file by choosing the |
Xcelsius file of the configuration app from part 4 (ztut4_config.xlf) | Start the registration tool, select the app You can now download the required file by choosing the |
BW query from part 4 (ZTUT4_METRICS_MONTH) | Start the BEx Query Designer, and enter the BW system or the BW client that is assigned to your SAP Solution Manager system.
If the query is not active, activate it with transaction RSOR (
End of the note. Open the BW query with the technical name TUT4_METRICS_MONTH, and save it under the name ZTUT4_METRICS_MONTH. |
Note
Process
Create Apps with Xcelsius
You use the app from the fourth part of the tutorial and modify it so you can use it with a context app:
The metric to be displayed was part of the associated configuration app in the fourth part of the tutorial. Instead, create a separate app for each of the three metrics to be displayed. These will then be shown in a dashboard.
The period for which the data is to be displayed was also defined by the configuration app in part four. You now make the necessary changes to define this period with a context app.
Create Context App with Xcelsius
In this step, you create a context app with which you can choose any month. The apps that you created in the previous step should then show the data for this month. Use the configuration app from part 4 as the starting point for the context app.
Then make the following changes:
Since the metrics to be displayed are no longer selected via the configuration app, delete the corresponding parts.
Create a new pushbutton that, when pressed, transfers the selected month to the Dashboard Framework.
Register Apps
In this step, you register the three apps that you created during the step before last in the tutorial (see Tutorial Part 8: Register Apps).
Register Context App
In this step, you register the context app that you created during the step before last in the tutorial (see Tutorial Part 8: Register Context App).
Create BAdI Implementation
In this step, you create a simple BAdI implementation that ensures that a specific dashboard is filled with the apps and context app that you created and registered in the preceding steps.
This BAdI implementation is required because you need to create a dashboard in this tutorial in order to display the context app; and you can only add context apps to a dashboard using a BAdI implementation. You cannot add a context app to the dashboard using the standard Configuring Dashboards functions.
The BAdI implementation ensures that an initialization BAdI is called the first time the dashboard is started to fill it in with the intended apps (see Tutorial Part 8: Create BAdI Implementation).
Create Dashboard with Context App
In this step, you create a dashboard in which the apps and the context app are displayed that you created previously and registered in the Dashboard Framework. For these elements to be added to the dashboard, you have to specify the initialization BAdI that you created in the previous step of the tutorial when you create the dashboard (see Tutorial Part 8: Create Dashboard with Context App).
Result
You have completed this part of the tutorial and created a dashboard with a context and suitable apps. If you have not achieved the desired result, compare your results with the objects delivered by SAP.
Created by me | Delivered by SAP |
|---|---|
Xcelsius files of the apps (ztut8_costs_month.xlf, ztut8_duration_month.xlf, ztut8_number_month.xlf) | SAP_TUTORIAL_8_APP_COSTS.xlf SAP_TUTORIAL_8_APP_DURATION.xlf SAP_TUTORIAL_8_APP_NUMBER.xlf To download this file, start the registration tool, select the apps specified above in the |
Xcelsius file of the context app (ztut8_context.xlf) | SAP_TUTORIAL_8_CONTEXT.xlf To download this file, start the registration tool, select the app |
BAdI implementation (Z_TUTORIAL8_FILL_DASHBOARD) | DSHB_TUTORIAL_FILL_DASHBOARD To display the BAdI implementation, start the |
Dashboard (Z_TUTORIAL8) | TUTORIAL_8 (To display the dashboard, start Dashboard Management) |