WD for Java going away??

[Former Member]

Hello All,

Is SAP thinking of phasing out WD for Java and started pushing WD for ABAP? Will SAP keep on supporting WD for Java based applcations or not? What is future of WD for Java?

Any inputs on this topic will be highly appreciated.

Manoj

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Manoj,

Both WD Java and WD ABAP are here to stay. None would be phasing out. SAP has given a choice to customers to use which ever development technology to suit their needs and this topic also has been discussed many times with the same comments.

And I guess with the effort the SAP Team in putting in rolling out development studios for CE 7.1, CE 7.1 EhP1 you can be sure of their commitment towards Java as well.

Thanks,

GLM

[Former Member]

Pravesh/Umang,

Thanks for your replies. Other than that thread whether anywhere SAP is talking specifically on WD for Java's future? Our customer voiced opinion that similar to ITS they will slowly move away from WD for java and then they need to redesign/rebuild all custom applications again.

Manoj

[pravesh_verma]

Hi Manoj,

I would suggest you that there is no need to fall into such discussions which are anyways having no grounds. It's very early to predict anything. Nothing like this has been communicated till date. Phasing out WD for JAVA is not a easy task.

There are lot of customer application still running on WD JAVA. Even if they plan to phase out WD for JAVA, there will be lot of thought process which will be involved in that. In near future I dont see anything like this happening at SAP end.

I would suggest that if the project has not been started yet and you are planning to start it new then probably you can rethign on the architecture and the technology just to make sure that you remain on the safer side. What I mean by this is, you can try out with WD for ABAP.

Having said this I am still sure that phasing out of WD for JAVA is really a big task and will involve lot of higher management into this decision. Its too early to comment on this question.

I hope this would help you! Kindly revert back in case you need any further help. Or kindly close the thread if answered.

Thanks and Regards,

Pravesh

[Former Member]

Hi, This seems like the hottest debate in SAP shops these days. There has been a slow and steady build up towards SAPu2019s move to Java based development in the last few years with Netweaver. And that seemed to be culminating in SAPu2019s WEBDYNPRO framework which optimizes the MVC paradigm into something most suitable for business application development. Traditional Java developers hitherto using JSPDynpPage or DynPage development for Portal development seem to be smitten by Webdynpro for Java and swear by ease of development of common business applications using Webdynpro for Java. It is apparently robust and high performance. It brings to the Java world the basic tenets of SAPu2019s traditional dynpro programming where the developer strictly works in a module pool framework for PBO and PAI, does simplified coding, and scaling, performance and best practices are implicit in the framework itself. So far so good. And then, last year SAP came out with the same framework for ABAP language. Which suddenly seems like natural progression for SAPu2019s ABAP development community - to develop web based business applications within the familiar SE80 environment which also brings to the table all the goodies associated with the Webdynpro framework. So as SAP development shops were gearing for significant changes in their skill mix (trying to bring on a mix of Java skills inhouse), suddenly there is a new found hope that afterall, after all the scare and uncertainity of the move towards Java, finally there was a Knight in form of Webdynpro for ABAP that can bring back the glory and stability to ABAP developers career. But the question is how to fairly decide how to go about preferring one language to another with the Webdynpro paradigm. Why is WEBDYNPRO good for Java development? Relatively easy and fast application development as compared to other usual J2EE options via use of visual models/code-editors. Comparable with Java Server Faces (JSF). Generated applications independent of different UIs u2013 like Web, Rich-clients, Mobile devices. Scalability, robustness and performance are handled by the framework to a large extend Code available for reuse and modification What is SAPu2019s own take on Webdynpro for Java? SAPu2019s is using Webdynpro for Java as a strategic tool to produces robust and highly scalable J2EE architecture applications. SAP is in the process of rewriting Employee Self Service (ESS) and Manager Self Service (MSS) applications using Webdynpro for Java. CRM 5.0 uses this functionality. Important SAP Portal applications like User and Role management transaction, Universal Work List (UWL) use Webdynpro for Java. What are the downsides of Webdynpro? Framework proprietary to SAP u2013 as opposed to any standard J2EE framework (like Java Server Faces) Not complete freedom to design user interface elements as only specific objects and their properties can be manipulated Not possible to include application data u2018scripletsu2019 into HTML markup Cannot use Javascript, DHTML, etc. - so limited freedom to do frontend screen design (as familiar to web developers) Custom Style-sheet integration Training implications?

I hope this solves your ambiguity, if you are looking for something else, please revert. I'll be happy to help you.

Cheers!!!

Umang

[pravesh_verma]

Hi Manoj,

Nothing like this at all. SAP uses JAVA based upon some written agreements. This was being followed when JAVA was provided by SUN. And If this question has come because of the recent acquisition then I must tell you that nothing goanna effect due to this. JAVA was being supported by SAP and will definitely will be supported in future.

Moreover, Oracle is partner of SAP and SAP has lot of applications on customer side deployed on Oracle DB. In future even if there are new agreements proposals with Oracle, then believe me they will be just revamped, not removed.

So I would say just stay calm and relaxed and keep on working with technologies provided and supported by SAP.

For more indication on this topic you can refer to this link:

/people/benny.schaich-lebek/blog/2009/05/01/and-whats-the-direction-with-java-now

I hope that helps. Please revert back in case you need any further information.

Thanks and Regards,

Pravesh