SAP TechEd 2011: Thursday

 

CD166 - ABAP in Eclipse in Action
Thursday 8:00 a.m.
Sweet.  Really nice demonstration on using Eclipse as an ABAP editor.  SAPgui runs inside the Eclipse IDE.  Developer can connect to multiple systems at once and is not limited by six sessions.  :)  Forward navigation is supported (Ctrl-click).  No native support for dictionary objects, but the embedded SAPgui is used instead.  Features: cool code completion, code locking, integration with Change Transport System, problems view, check/save/activate process.  This tool improves the efficiency of using a test-driven development methodology.

MOB117 - Consume SAP on Your Mobile Device in Under an Hour
Thursday 10:30 a.m.
This is the low-cost option for building mobile applications.  In this session we learned the basics of what was needed: no SAP NetWeaver Gateway, no Sybase Unwired Platform.  Just a simple SAP Web Application.  Tools used: jQuery and jQuery Mobile, DOM, JSON.  Web application uses JSON to call to SAP backend and build web page dynamically.  JSON is generated by SAP ICF handler class (find blog on SDN).  Consider looking for ABAP to JSON open source project.  HTML page uses includes from jQuery, JSON, and Phone Gap libraries.  HTML page makes a call to the ICF handler and uses JSONP to process the results into HTML.  jQuery Mobile takes the HTML results and formats it properly based on end device.  This method is fine for “getting it to work”.  This method is best suited for simple applications: display-only reports.  User management (as with the SUP) is not available.

I was #9 on the SAP TechEd Knowledge Quest Leader Board after lunch today.  Rock!

CD267 - Quality Tools Within ABAP Development
Thursday 2:15 p.m.
Learned about many tools available in ABAP development environment that help support quality testing. 
Static Code Checks – Code Inspector in SE80.  Create the Inspection to associate an object set (objects to check) with a check variant (checks to perform).  I also learned how to create a unit test class for ABAP classes.  Test Driven Development was identified as an important methodology to use.

EIM209 - SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Search in Non-SAP Systems
Thursday 4:30 p.m.
SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Search 7.2 connected to PLM, DMS and many other SAP products.  Also connected to many non-SAP systems.  Additionally, it appears that this team has implemented the PLM Web UI.  Security was implemented to restrict access to search results which would meet our FDA/ITAR restrictions.  I didn’t have opportunity to discuss the SAP-side (as this was a non-SAP lecture).  But I have contact information and think we should contact him for a discussion.

CD116 - Workflow Approvals Anywhere: It Saved You How Much?
Thursday 5:45 p.m.
Presenter described a solution in which a Workflow was used to catch new Purchase Order objects and send an email to the approver(s) with a key file.  When the approver clicks a link in the email, a new email is generated and sent (with the key) back to SAP.  Another SAP program catches the incoming email and approves the PO on behalf of the email recipient.  My thoughts: a similar process could potentially be used during a Change Order approval process.  Looks nice: they generated a rich HTML-based email; not just plain text.  Next they enhanced the process to include other SAP objects: hire requests, customer invoices, travel expense, etc.