4.6 Configuration via Table NWBC_CFG 
For minimal configuration of NWBC, there is a configuration table NWBC_CFG that can be used to set minimal flags. The table is used only for customization, and is local to the current system.
The table can be maintained via transaction SE16, as it is basically a sequence of names-value pairs that are configured either globally, or for a specific cockpit. The table has the following general structure:
Name |
Required/Optional |
Description |
|---|---|---|
CLIENT |
required |
It is the system client to which the configuration belongs. |
IDX |
required |
A unique number that has no other purpose than to set a sort sequence and function as key. The actual value of the number is irrelevant. |
COCKPIT |
optional |
Use either the wildcard * character to have this setting apply to all cockpits, or enter here the name of a cockpit to limit the settings to the specific cockpit. |
NAME |
required |
The name of the configuration parameter. See below. |
LANG |
depends on NAME |
If the parameter can also have a language-dependent string, then set here the ISO language code. Or use the wildcard * character to apply to all languages. |
DISPLAY |
depends on NAME |
The actual natural language string that will be displayed to the user. |
COCKPIT_PATH |
optional |
It is possible that the same cockpit name can actually exist in different parts of the ICF tree. The name itself is not unique, it becomes only unique when the full path from the root is specified, for example, for myCockpit, the full path could be /sap/bc/nwbc/myCockpit. Thus, optionally specify the complete cockpit path to ensure absolute uniqueness. If specified, this string will also be used in addition to validate whether this configuration row belongs to the current cockpit. |
Each parameter will be one entry in the table. The following parameters are supported:
Name |
Language Field |
Occurrence |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
CACHE_DISCRIMINATOR |
not used |
once |
NWBC for Desktop will cache the complete navigation tree for the end-user locally on the desktop indefinitely. Only when a role is changed, will a new navigation tree be downloaded. However, there can be specific reasons where one would like to force all desktop clients to dynamically reload their caches. The approach taken is to encode this random configuration string into the cache key. As long as the string is not configured or stably configured, it will have no influence on the caching of NWBC for Desktop. As soon as the string gets any new and different random string, it will change the cache key, causing NWBC for Desktop to reload the caches anew. This parameter is not needed in productive use, unless explicitly so requested from a support process to resolve specific types of problems. It can be any character string, recommended is to use three digit numbers. |
INSTALL_DIRECTORY |
required |
once |
A link that is displayed and rendered on the ~launch page to allow users to quickly get a reference to a location from where NWBC for Desktop can be installed from. This link could point to a Wiki, a file share, even into the mime repository on the local server. It is recommended that the URL itself refers to an HTML page, as it is started in a browser window. |
BUSINESS_LINE |
not used |
once |
This entry just controls the icon that is displayed within NWBC to refer to one of SAP’s business lines. Possible values are:
If the parameter is not defined, the usual SAP icon is displayed with NWBC. Note specifically for the SAP Business Suite, no separate logo is displayed at the moment, the SAP logo itself is also applied. |
BRANDING_IMAGE |
not used |
once |
A branding image will typically be a corporate logo that NWBC will display on the lower part of the left navigation panel (when visible). This can be a small PNG or JPG image. The value field is an URL that points directly onto the image. It must be ensured that the image can be loaded without authorization having been required. |
BRANDING_URL |
not used |
once |
If this parameter is configured, then the branding image will be clickable, and a click on the branding image will navigate to this URL. The value is the URL that must be started. This can typically be the corporate portal page of the company which is then loaded. |
COCKPIT_TITLE |
not used |
once |
This parameter is only used in rare cases where a cockpit wishes to create a “product” approach. In such cases, this parameter can be used to configure a string that is displayed on the shell, limited at the moment to NWBC for HTML. |
LOGOFF_URL |
not used |
once |
This parameter is specifically for NWBC for HTML. After a logoff sequence, if a logoff URL is specified, the browser will navigate to this page. NWBC for Desktop has the typical desktop application behavior where a logoff will cause the application to terminate. |
An example configuration could be:
(NWBC_CFG example)
For SAP Developers Only
There are cases where it could be required to ship specific parameters that are predefined for a specific cockpit. This becomes especially of interest where a cockpit is used to define a small “product”. For example, assume that SRM would like to define a new cockpit, and pre-configure a title, a custom search engine and a help link for this use case. The approach would be then to define a new cockpit that can be used to group relevant roles and to which the configuration can be tied. In these cases, use the table NWBC_CFG_SAP to configure a set of parameters for the cockpit that can be transported.
Caution
Note that this table is client-independent. It uses only a three character index to obtain unique keys. Please contact the NWBC development team just to reserve a set of numbers.