WDA theme edit and custom UI designing

[Former Member]

Hi All,

How can we edit the WDA theme? Our client requirement is to design the page according to client standards(colors, fonts, etc).

Also, is it possible to change the button shape/design?

Another question is , is it possible to create custom events such as onfocus/ onblur? I know it cannot be done normally but this is one of the basic feature of present day web applications.

Thanks,

Pris.

[BeGanz]

Hallo Pris,

I only refer to your sub-question

> ... is it possible to create custom events such as onfocus/ onblur? I know it cannot be done normally but this is one of the basic feature of present day web applications.

The Web Dynpro ABAP UI element model does not directly expose 'control' events like 'onfocus or onblur' but 'abstracts' the user interaction with so called 'action events' defined on UI element level ('UI Element' is the Web Dynpro term for 'control') and handled on serverside within the related 'action event handlers' (inside view controller). This means when a user clicks a button with its 'action event = onAction' (NOT onClick) bound to a Web Dynpro view controller action a roundtrip is triggered and the related 'action event handler' is called by the Web Dynpro ABAP runtime. This principle also applies to many other action events triggered by the user.

Regarding your specific client-side events 'onfocus' and 'onblur' I want to provide the following details.

Some Web Dynpro UI elements provide some in-built, client-side-only 'change mechanisms' which are not based on action eventing (to be processed on server side). E.g. the InputField UI element provides a function to display as TextView and to 'morph' to an InputField on user focus. This is a fully generic function switched on by setting the InputField property 'displayAsText' to true:

InputField.displayAsText

Specifies whether the (ToolBar)InputField is to look like a pure Textfeld when the focus is not set on it. When the mouse pointer is moved over the UI element, the UI element is highlighted. When the UI element is clicked on, it behaves like a normal (ToolBar)InputField, and the user can enter data.

The 'onBlur' event know from client-side UI element libraries does not exist in Web Dynpro ABAP (like given in Web Dynpro Java with the onChange event). See Tom Jungs answer in thread ' [Re: Webdynpro abap onChange event for input|;.

Regards, Bertra

[thomas_jung]

>How can we edit the WDA theme?

Does your application run in the NetWeaver Portal? If so, it will inherit the them automatically from the Portal. You would use the built-in Portal theme editor to customize the theme of the entire portal.

If your applications do not run in the NetWeaver Portal, then you would need to use the Eclipse based theme editor. You can read more about the process here:

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70ehp1/helpdata/en/47/af752005c92fe1e10000000a42189d/frameset.htm

You can download the standalone theme editor from here:

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/downloads?rid=/library/uuid/b08a05ec-e24a-2d10-189e-f5c6bcbf39a5

The theme editor will allow you to make some changes to the look and feel. You will not be able to drastically change the shape of UI elements. You can not add new events to UI elements either.

[former_member183915]

Hi Thomas,

We have similar requirement wherein we have to apply custom theme to external candidate application hrrcf_a_startpage_ext_cand . We are on NW 7.31 portal with SP9. Is it possible to apply custom branding for this application? I have gone through your thread http://scn.sap.com/thread/3319534 for this requirement.

Regards,

Navya.

[Former Member]

Pris,

you cannot change the shape and design of the UI elements because WDA architecture doesn't allow that.

you cannot have custom events

Thanks

Bala Duvvuri