Restrictions on the Web Dynpro Java for Mobile

[Former Member]

Hello everybody,

We are starting to develop Web Dynpro Java applications for Windows based hand held devices.

Before starting, i wanted to check on few things:

1. Is Date Picker element now works in the WDJ for Mobile? I know in past, there were some issues with that. IS that issue still persists? I am planning to use the normal date feature which is tied to the input field by assigning Date type context field.

2. Can we use the custom theme for WDJ for Mobile? Or is there any restrictions?

3. Is there any problem with using Dropdown values for WDJ for Mobile?

4. Is search help works fine in WDJ for Mobile?

Let me know if someone has developed WDJ for Mobile recently and come across above scenarios.

Also, please let me know if there are any other specific restrictions in using WDJ for mobile?

Thanks,

Bhavik

[daniel_ruiz2 · Accepted solution]

Hi Bhagat,

Using WDJ (Pie03Client/PieClient) will work with most RF devices - and if it doesn't, you can always install a DataWedge for that. Browser aspects, you will have to consider which license your client have in their devices - I would say usually is Pocket IE (my client works with Motorola MC31XX's so I can use SPB/RhoElements).

Another thing to consider here is how this whole AS Java technologies work in SAP environment: there is no such thing as 'documentation', 'release notes' or 'demo/poc' - The best approach is to do what Tobias suggested: Build yourself a Proof of Concept and show your client the capabilities of the platform - I find rather unlikely you will ever find proper documentation in SAP. (I was never able to find..)

But for instance, I can tell you simple things that doesn't work, so this will give you an idea of the Pie03Client:

- width/height doesn't work for most UI Elements, no matter what you do the UR/Pie03 does not render it;

- many UI Elements have no render defined in Pie03Client - for instance, hr or iFrame.

And I still have to use WDJ Mobile (Pie03Client) - one of the biggest (if not the biggest) food retailers in the country I live uses it and doesn't want to move forward. Somehow it works for them (and when it doesn't I just open up the JAR's and I do stuff myself)

Back to the main topic:

1. Is Date Picker element now works in the WDJ for Mobile? I know in past, there were some issues with that. IS that issue still persists? I am planning to use the normal date feature which is tied to the input field by assigning Date type context field.

- No Date Picker.

2. Can we use the custom theme for WDJ for Mobile? Or is there any restrictions?

- No Theme. (Pie03Client) - basically, this client has no CSS. I also believe that theme is part only of the HTML client.

3. Is there any problem with using Dropdown values for WDJ for Mobile?

- Yes. DDBI/DDBK will not respect ContextNodeCardinality/SimpleValueSet - on Pie03Client there is always a 'blank' row being displayed, which causes a 500 in the framework when selected. NW73, latest SP. PieClient I believe contains the same issue, thou no 500 on roundtrip.

4. Is search help works fine in WDJ for Mobile?

- Not that I'm aware off.

@Tobias: No matter how much QQ around that topic, IMO all it took was Oracle acquire Sun and boom..

D.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello Daniel,

I'm currently migrating an old Web Dynpro Java application from 7.0 to 7.1  EHP1...and i came accross that problem of blank line added in DDBI. Do you have any solution or workaround?
I tried some stuff (check null value, blank value, try - catch,...) but nothing seems to work.
When using without Pie03Client it's working but when using that parameter it isn't working anymore.
This is big blocking error in my case so any hint is very welcome 🙂

Thanks,

Regards,

Thomas

[daniel_ruiz2 · Accepted solution]

Hi Thomas,

Long story short, your best choice is to move away from broken technologies like WDP. This is the best solution you can give to your customer.

I have the JAR file but it's my fix not SAP fix, I usually just jad and recompile when I find this kind of stuff in WDP (SAP support is just complete crap).

Send me your email address and I can forward it to you. I can mark the lines you need to fix and recompile - as I don't know if 7.3 and 7.1 version of the classes will be the same (thou I have an impression they will be)

Hope it helps,

D.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for you answer. I finally found a "solution" by using RadioButtonGroup instead of DropDown. As I don't have much information to show, it was a possible solution to that problem.

I now WDJ  is not the good way of working anymore but I wanted to avoid developping again an old working application.

Thanks again for your help.

Best regards,

Thomas

[former_member192152]

Sanjay,

I would recommend you create a component of type Potal JSP, and connect to the backend through a system (NW 7.0) or destination (NW 7.3). Soon after, create a custom login screen for mobile devices in Portal.

Here is a code snippet showing the connection to a destination:

IPortalRuntimeResources iPrtRsrc = PortalRuntime.getRuntimeResources();

                    IDestinationsService destinationsService = (IDestinationsService) iPrtRsrc.getService(IDestinationsService.KEY);

                    IDestinationWrapper destinationWrapper = destinationsService.getDestinationWrapper(userContext, destinationName);

                    hintAreCredentialsSet = destinationWrapper.hintAreCredentialsSet(userContext);

  if (hintAreCredentialsSet) {

                                connection = destinationsService.getConnection(userContext, destinationName);

  }

If you need more info... search about JPA or send-me a mail.

att,

Angelo

[Former Member]

Can anyone provide details on this?

Thanks,

Bhavik

[daniel_ruiz2]

Hi,

I believe functionality is directly tied to whatever client you are using. Which sap-wd-client are you using (or planning to use) in your development?

D.

[hofmann]

Bhavik,

WDJ Mobile is very limited and with Sybase Unwired Platform the now recommended approach for developing mobile applications for SAP is SUP, not WDJ mobile anymore. I'm not even sure if there are still people working on WDJ mobile at SAP.

If you cannot use SUP, maybe you should evaluate HTML5 or native development.

[daniel_ruiz2]

Hi Tobias,

First, totally agree with the sentence "WDJ Mobile is very limited". I'm just not too sure where you have read that 'recommended approach' is SUP - especially when you barely know what landscape, budget, time and force he has - but I'm not surprised to this kind statement in here once again.

SUP has? advantages - but also disadvantages comparing to other approaches on how you can develop Mobile application.

Also please pay to note in this thread it seems we are talking about HandHeld devices; Probably he doesn't mean smartphones with fancy browsers but maybe a HH Gun with a scanner that uses a broken PIE for instance.

@Topic: Case you want to stay on the AS Java, try looking into JRA / JPA like approach / Spring / jqMobile - it should give you a lot of speed in development plus a very nice tech solution (which I also believe you could easily migrate to jBoss or any other AS that has a SAP JRA).

D.

[hofmann]

Daniel,

I came to the conclusion that SUP is now the recommended way for developing mobile applications looking at what SAP says when it comes to mobile development. Do you have some documentations where mobile SAP does not come down to SAP Mobile platform with SUP and Gateway? WDJ mobile was actually never really endorsed. And it is also way too limited, as the browser identification does not work 100% and the generated HTML page is just not user friendly.

I mentioned in the last sentence that SUP is just an option and HTML5 or even native development can be considered. If the device is WM6/7 based and uses a barcode scanner: WDJ mobile won't help much, and when IEmobile is used, HTML/jqMobile also will not work 100%.

[daniel_ruiz2]

Hi Tobias,

Have you ever used WD PieClient or Pie03Client? - It seems there is some statements wrong there my friend.. - I'm not protecting the usage of it.

As to what goes with SUP recently, it's not hard to understand SAP is a large company which has many Products and they all have cost; your statement did not surprised me before nor your conclusion does.

I would find amazing for instance one having to develop an App with two screens and SAP recommending the usage of SUP for that.  =))

@Topic: There are other options other than PIE on CE platform - not to say vendor specific solutions - and some of them are quite good;

D.

[Former Member]

Hi Tobias,

SAP has started marketing SUP since sometime now. But based on how new products comes from SAP in initial period, client do not want to start too early in any new product.

Even I have very much experience in this. Think, in past when WebDynpro was out, there was lot of boom abou it and most of the solution were recommended by WebDynpro.

But, suddenly, things got changed. So, SUP is the one which client is not sure about it right now.

Other point is, it has added cost and infrastructure. So, unless there is a huge demand using SUP, noone prefers to invest that much at this point.

So, for time being, safe and easy option would be SAP WebDynpro Java or any other technologies which can be adapted easily without added cost and new infrastructure.

I hope, you got my point...

Becuase of that I wanted to clarify whether above items are now supported in WDJ or not. If not, then we might need to look for other options...

Thanks,

Bhavik

[Former Member]

Hi Tobias,

When you say it is very limited, can you please provide details on the limitations? That might help deciding whether it would fullfil requirements or not.

Also, just to clarify, we want to develop Mobile applications for not Smartphones or any other light mobile devices but application would be developed for RF devices or other Windows based heavy mobile devices.

Thanks,

Bhavik

[Former Member]

Hi Daniel,

Do you know if above are the limitations in WDJ for mobile or not?

If so, what are the other options without introducing new infrastructure or new technology?

We have NW 7.0 EHP1 and other ECC servers. also, we have SAP MI in the landscape.

Thanks,

Bhavik

[hofmann]

If you want to develop for WM devices that use also some native  or offline functionality: forget about WDJ mobile. Most certainly you'll have to do native development.

[hofmann]

WD didn't change suddenly. That process took years. To check out what WDJ mobile gives you: try to develop a WDJ mobile app. You'll see that you won't achieve much with it. Generally, going mobile using Web Dynpro won't work, you'll have to use another technology. Take a look at what I published about mobile SAP Portal to get an idea how you can develop mobile applications using AS Java / SAP Portal.

[Former Member]

Hi Tobias,

I guess you are not getting my point here. IF you say NO to WDJ for Mobile, I simply need the reason with points saying what would not work with WDJ for Mobile.

One can always develop different kinds of applications and check how it works and how it behaves in different technology and then decide. But we do not want to go to that route and that is the reason, I have posted the question here to get the answer from the experts here.

Thanks,

Bhavik

[hofmann]

I understood that you want a list of features that work and not work for WDJ mobile: that isn't going to happen. That kind of evaluation is part of every analysis of a possible solution and heavily depends on your project requirements. The expert here in the forum cannot do that kind of work for you, sorry.

Just develop a WDJ application and access it via a mobile browser and see what happens. Very soon you will discover that WDJ mobile is not a good choice for mobile applications.