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Prerequisites

Before you can choose from the various options available for the layout of your BSP application, you need some knowledge of following:

  • Page-based programming model

  • HTML

  • Work method of graphical Web design tools

Do you have to choose one or the other option?

The ABAP application server provides a number of design options for the BSP layout.

The easiest option is to design a page with pure HTML. You either use the text editor in the BSP development environment (see also the documentation on the Web Application Builder) and design the page textually. This presupposes a good knowledge of HTML and it is usually a lengthy process. The advantage is that script can be added immediately to the correct parts of the page.

Note

From SAP Web AS 6.20 you can use BSP extensions as an ideal mechanism for easily integrating interface elements such as table views, buttons, input fields or charts into your BSPs. In particular, you can use the BSP extensions HTMLB, XHTMLB, PHTMLB, and BSP for BSP applications.

A more elegant solution is to design a page with a design tool such as AdobeGoLive5.0, Dreamweaver 4.0, Frontpage and so on. The ABAP application server lets you check in Web pages created with such tools and directly edit such pages managed on the server. This is done by means of the WebDAV access of the AS ABAP (see also Using External Tools). WebDAV is supported by the above-mentioned tools (Frontpage together with the WebFolders). After check-in, you can add script to the pages. If the pages checked in to the server are edited again using the tool, you should flag the server-side script parts so that a designer can recognize them as such.

Thus, developers of Web applications using the ABAP application server are subject to no design restrictions whatever.