Clarififications on SUP basics

[Former Member]

Hi

   I am new to SUP , while going through some documents I came across , Netweaver Mobile, DOE ,ODATA,MBO  as per my knowledge these are different ways to get data from source systems and pass it to mobile via SUP framework ,but I am not able to get clear picture of why do we need all these methods and differences between them.Request you to explain the differences in between them.

Also can we get data from Excel file and present it in Mobile through MBO

Thanks

Santosh

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi varada,

From what i understand...

(From Sybase books) These are ways to model enterprise data so that mobile applications can be developed to access data in your enterprise:

1. Mobile Business Objects using the Sybase Mobile SDK,
2. Data Objects using SAP Data Orchestration Engine (DOE),
3. and OData using SAP® NetWeaver Gateway

The main concept is that OData, MBO's and DOE are data services and they allow you to create data models for your applications scenarios, which are:

Ok, About MBO's...

MBO's, basically is a "connection" from ONE data source (JDBC, SAP, SOAP, Web Service) to your device (via Mobile Object). This Mobile Object helps you to create, update, delete (and retrieve) your data on your device.

You can create MBO's with the SUP Graphical Tools, generate a code and build Objects API Apps for a specific OS device.

You can also create a "Workflow" with your MBO's, who works in different OS devices

About OData

With OData the developer does not need to create any model elements (MBOs) in the tooling but rather inherits a service model from the service document published from SAP NetWeaver Gateway. These OData service documents contain all the information the device developer needs to parse and interact with these data streams.

About DOE

DOE data objects define the mobile data model for Object API Applications. DOE consolidates data from DIVERSE SAP back-end sources and distributes it to applications via Sybase Unwired Platform messaging.  

Hope my nonsense helped you,

Daniel

See more here...

Sybase Fundamentals - http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/topic/com.sybase.infocenter.dc01204.0212/doc/pdf/sup_fundamentals....

SyBooks - http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.infocenter.pubs.docset-SUP-2.1.2/doc/h...

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Daniel

  Thank you very much for detailed explanation , your explanation brought me clear cut idea , left with few more questions.

1.DOE and MBO both are independent on each other or they are two different data services.

2.If both are related then what is the purpose of DOE,as MBO is to generate Mobile Business Objects structure which would be intermediate mapping between Source data and data being presented on Mobile.

3.With MBO we don't do any coding as there is an option in Sybase Work center to generate device specific code or we can do our own coding as well.

4.In case of MBO if the source is SAP we can connect to only BAPI, RFC ,any more other ways are also these besides these.

5.In case of OData through netweaver Gateway can we directly connect to the reports in ABAP or we need to generate anything out of program.

Thanks

Santosh

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi varada,

Im sorry to tell you this... but i started to learn SUP a week ago so i don't know very much about DOE and OData, but i can clarify you a little more about MBO's (the data service that i have some practice)

1) From what i understand... yes, they are different data services and they provide their own data models or you can call them mobile data objects (for these two data services).

3) Yeah, with MBO mostly we don't do any coding, we kinda make connections, relationships between objects and transform some "data source code" into "Mobile Coding" via graphical tools.

You can do your own code in MBO's, i haven't seen someone do it from scratch, but once you generate an object and his code, you can edit it.

4) Unfortunately yes (only to BAPI's and RFC's), but so far it is enough for your applications development in MBO and Workflow format.

Regards,
Daniel

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Daniel

    It clarified my doubts on MBO concepts.Thanks for your sharing your wisdom.I would also try to get some knowledge DOE and OData, let us see if any body can explain about DoE and OData.

Thanks Once again.

[rohith_deraje · Accepted solution]

Hi Varada,

Let me share some info on DOE and oData.

Data orchestration Engine(DOE):   It is for more useful for offline/occassionally connected scenarios where end user works on the mobile device without network connection and sync with the server occassionally.

It is a middleware which extracts the mobile relevant business data from your backend, stores  data it in the form of DO(Data Objects) and replicates data to devices using rule engine.

Typical setup is  SAPbackend<--RFC-->DOE <-->Client/Application

DOE has some excellent features such as.

-- RR(replication and realignment) to precalculate the data for the device even when device is offline.

-- Conflict handling to maintain the data consistency between devices and DOE when same data is modified  by multiple devices at the same time.

oData:  Open Data Protocol (OData) is an open web protocol for querying and updating data used in REST .

Using netWeaver gateway, you can expose the content of you backend in the form of REST services.(oData xml Format). 

Using SUP-ODP you can create online mobile applications which can consume the REST services. This is more relevant for online scenarios.

Regards

Rohith

[rohith_deraje · Accepted solution]

Hi Varada,

Let me share some info on DOE and oData.

Data orchestration Engine(DOE):   It is for more useful for offline/occassionally connected scenarios where end user works on the mobile device without network connection and sync with the server occassionally.

It is a middleware which extracts the mobile relevant business data from your backend, stores  data it in the form of DO(Data Objects) and replicates data to devices using rule engine.

Typical setup is  SAPbackend<--RFC-->DOE <-->Client/Application

DOE has some excellent features such as.

-- RR(replication and realignment) to precalculate the data for the device even when device is offline.

-- Conflict handling to maintain the data consistency between devices and DOE when same data is modified  by multiple devices at the same time.

oData:  Open Data Protocol (OData) is an open web protocol for querying and updating data used in REST

Using netWeaver gateway, you can expose the content of you backend in the form of REST services.(oData xml Format). 

Using SUP-ODP you can create online mobile applications which can consume the REST services. This is more relevant for online scenarios.

Regards

Rohith

[pierosilve · Accepted solution]

Hi,

if I have my Gateway that exposes REST services, I can use SUP and OData SDK to develop app that consumes these services.

The question is: can I create an MBO that connects to an OData service exposed by Gateway? it is a REST web service, so I think that it is possible...

If it's possible, I can create my Hybrid Web Container app that connects to Gateway with MBOs.

Is it correct?

thanks

[former_member184221]

Regarding "Also can we get data from Excel file and present it in Mobile through MBO".

It is technicaly possible to connect to Excel using a database driver in SUP server via JDBC, but I would definately not do it. Much better to move the Excel data into a database and then connect to that database (data source) from the SUP server.

http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.infocenter.dc01283.0213/doc/html/mqu12...

Regarding "DOE".

I would not use this method for connecting SUP to mobile devices. There were strong hints at TechEd that the DOE method of connecting would no longer be supported in later versions of SUP (2.5 ?), I will try and find the video that says this. Certainly Mobile Sales (CRM) from Sybase was  no longer use DOE in its next version (TechEd MOB263).

http://scn.sap.com/community/events/teched/blog/2012/10/26/mobility-replays-of-teched

[hofmann]

no longer be supported in later versions of SUP

I believe what you mean is: not any more recommended for new developments. Supported most certainly it will be, if not many customers of the CRM Mobile Sales app will have to adjust their landscape when upgrading to a higher SUP version.

[former_member184221]

Thanks, for the correction Tobias as I say it was a spoken piece of news.

[Former Member]

hi all,

Please see the below link. which is more helpful to move further on mobility.

http://scn.sap.com/people/danielle.cullen2/blog/2011/02/10/understanding-sybase-sup--the-basics

thanks & regards

prasad...