SAP Break for Java Developer

[Former Member]

Hi

Is it the right path to embark on a career in SAP with 6 years experience on Java/J2EE.

Identified the following books to upgrade my skills on SAP.

1. SAP NetWeaver For Dummies -- by Dan Woods, Jeffrey Word

2. Web Programming with the SAP Web Application Server -- by Frederic Heinemann, Christian Rau;

Install and configure SAP Web AS and develop toy web applications on SAP Web AS.

3.Enterprise Java for SAP -- by Austin Sincock;

4. SAP Enterprise Portal: Technology and Programming

by Arnd Goebel and Dirk Ritthaler

5. SAP Interface Programming - A Comprehensive Reference for RFC, BAPI, and JCo Programming by Johannes Meiners and Dr. Wilhelm Nüßer

Other books:

1. Java Programming with the SAP Web Application Server

by Gregor Karl Frey and Jürgen Opgenorth

2. Inside Web Dynpro for Java by Chris Whealy .

Thanks

-- Ravi

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Ravinder,

The Web Dynpro book is rather good: it explains a lot of details about the architecture and contains a lot of interesting topics, including some very usefull examples.

On the future/strategy side of things, I would advise to go with Web Dynpro anyway: this way you can integrate with ABAP/RFC enabled BAPIs (i.e. traditional SAP environments) and Web Services (i.e. the 'new-and-improved' way of communication) without too much indepth knowledge of the internals of these technology areas. I know, I have the same background

Web Dynpro's also allows you to include any of the available Java techniques you could wish for, so your experience with Java can be put to full advantage.

Regards, Jurjen.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Everyone

Thanks for the responses. Your responses are appreciated and will be encouraging and educative for SAP aspirants like me.

My broad strategy is going to be Books + Praticals + SDN based on your responses.

I am plan to download SAP Web Application Server and plan to work on these books and use SDN:

NETWEAVER OVERVIEW AND ARCHITECTURE

1. SAP NetWeaver For Dummies -- by Dan Woods, Jeffrey Word

BSP

2. Web Programming with the SAP Web Application Server -- by Frederic Heinemann, Christian Rau;

WEB DYNPRO

3. Inside Web Dynpro for Java by Chris Whealy.

I have read in these forums that BSP is old technology and Web Dynpro (Java/ABAP4) is the future technology so a quick brush up on BSP and move to Web Dynpro.

Thanks

-- Ravi

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Concerning BSP vs. Web Dynpro: It's not so much "past vs. future", but these frameworks differ in their degree of abstraction from the underlying technology.

If you need more flexibility and freedom for building HTML pages, perhaps BSP is the better choice. If you want a more abstract programming model that allows running the same application on different clients (HTML, Smart Client, Mobile devices, ...), Web Dynpro might be your choice.

Another factor for deciding between these different programming models might be the background of your developers, ABAP vs. Java etc.

Armin

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

WebDynpro is new technology and it is here to Stay. SAP has already build IDE for both JAVA(NWDS) and ABAP (SAP Gui - SE80). SAP is also hard at work to build a converter that will convert existing transaction into WebDynpro application. BSP will be slowly discarded. If you are a developer working on BSP , i would recommend slowly move away from BSP to WebDynpro.

Message was edited by: Prakash Singh

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi

Thanks a lot for the response. Now it is clear to me. The situation is analogous to trend in J2EE based web applications. The Struts-based framework is slowly becoming the default standard for implementing J2EE based web applications as compared to JSP technology. My focus would be on learning "Web Dynpro". Does one need ABAP/4 background to learn "Web Dynpro". What is the development environment needed to install and run a sample "Web Dynpro" based application.

Thanks

-- Ravi

[Former Member]

Hi Ravi,

No, you will not need ABAP background to learn Web Dynpro.

Just Download and install NetWeaver Developer and WAS 6.40 and you'll have everything required to run a sample web dynpro application.

Manish

[Former Member]

Hi Manish

Thanks a lot for the reply and the encouraging words. I have decided to return the books "Netweaver for Dummies" and "Web application development with SAP Web AS" which had hurriedly been ordered at Amazon.com without much forethought. The package is still lying unopened in my bookshelf:). The responses to my posting in this forum have helped me to formulate a right strategy.

My strategy would now be to focus on "Web Dynpro" and download SAP WEB AS 6.40 and Netweaver developer studio and work on the sample examples. My Home PC has 512 MB RAM and also needs upgradation to 1 GB in order to run SAP Web AS 6.40 and Netweaver Developer Studio as is clear from the various postings on SDN.

Thanks a lot

-- Ravi

[daniel_davinci]

Hi Ravi,

Good move on the books.. I would recommend going to 2gb of memory if you can do it. 1gb is the bare minimum.

Regards

Daniel

[Former Member]

I agree with Daniel.

If you want to learn something instead of watching your pc swap, go for 2 gig

[Former Member]

Hi Daniel/Karsten

I am convinced that my PC must be upgraded to 2GB. Lucky for me, my HP Pavilion 751n supports 2GB(max). I have to go to the Fry's electronics stores in Wilsonville, Oregon over the weekend and buy 2GB.

Thanks

-- Ravi

[Former Member]

Hi Ravi,

SAP is coming up with a lot of products based on Java and I think your Java background will be of good use.

It'll take some time for you to learn SAP specific Java based products, but after you have learnt it and passed the certification exam, you can expect a good future.

I dont know about the books but SDN is a good place to learn.

Manish

[Former Member]

Hi Daniel

Thanks for responding to my question. I think this question is quite relevant for all those Java developers out there who want to work on the cutting edge technologies like SAP.

What do you suggest would be the right path for a Java developer to embark on a career in SAP? How can one go about it? Do you suggest training, books, self development etc? What has been your experience?

Thanks

-- Ravi

[Former Member]

Hi Ravinder,

Java is java no matter where you use it. You can learn about apis specific to portal or WAS on SDN. I would also recommend you that take some portal & WAS specific java classes that SAP provides. SAP is vast and my experience is that you learn SAP products from experience. You could read books and go on training but you need some hands on experience. thank you

[daniel_davinci]

Hi Again,

Well it depends on your background. For me I was developing portals using other applicationsproducts so for me EP was the no brainer choice.

The best start way for me to learn is to get practical experience as soon as possible so downloading the sneak preview of WAS & EP right here on SDN got me started:

https://www.sdn.sap.com/sdn/downloadarea.sdn

There are plenty of e-learning courses also available which are practical and give you a great start:

https://www.sdn.sap.com/sdn/pilot.sdn

Also I recommend getting the Tech ed on DVD:

https://www.sdn.sap.com/sdn/techeddvd.sdn

The netweaver Know how dvd was not that great for me but if the cost is no problem you should get it.

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.km.cm.docs/library/webas/sap netweaver know-how dvd toc.htm

After this you will probably have a good feel for what you might like to do and might like to invest in a SAP certification training course.

Offcourse browsing the content right here on SDN is an excellent source of quality information.

Cheers

Daniel

[daniel_davinci]

Hi Ravider,

I recently starting working with SAP Technologies and also have a background in Java development. I find it a very interesting and rewarding(and frustrating at times) environment to work in.

Below is my opinion on the books you have listed. Some might disagree...

1. SAP NetWeaver For Dummies -- by Dan Woods, Jeffrey Word

>> High level and not of much interest for the developer.

2. Web Programming with the SAP Web Application Server -- by Frederic Heinemann, Christian Rau;

>> Based on the abap engine for writing BSP's. Not of much use for you.

Install and configure SAP Web AS and develop toy web applications on SAP Web AS.

>> Don't know it.

3.Enterprise Java for SAP -- by Austin Sincock;

>> Don't know it.

+4. SAP Enterprise Portal: Technology and Programming

by Arnd Goebel and Dirk Ritthaler+

>> Had this book on reserve for ages. When it finally arrived I was pretty disappointed. It details a lot of EP5 technology which is of not much use to me. It might be a good starting point for someone completly new to portals, but then SDN has a lot of up-to-date information and its free!

5. SAP Interface Programming - A Comprehensive Reference for RFC, BAPI, and JCo Programming by Johannes Meiners and Dr. Wilhelm Nüßer

>>Don't know it.

+Other books:

1. Java Programming with the SAP Web Application Server
by Gregor Karl Frey and Jürgen Opgenorth+
>>Don't know it, but looks good.

2. Inside Web Dynpro for Java by Chris Whealy .

>>Don't know it, but am going to get it soon.

Good luck!

Regards

Daniel