WebDynpro For ABAP And JAVA
WebDynpro is a proprietary web application user interface technology developed by SAP and exists in a Java (WDJ) and an ABAP (WDA) flavor. Both have in general the same functionality, but usually one flavor is improved after the other, so temporary one flavor is more advanced than the other. Hence, the decision for one of the two flavors shall be based on organizational and business circumstances, but not on functionality.
WebDynpro follows an adapted MVC pattern and a model driven development approach ("minimize coding, maximize design") with a large number of dedicated hooks in generated code to place custom coding. It is intended for business applications that shall follow standardized UI principles, connect to backend systems and be scalable.
Main advantages of WebDynpro over other technologies
- Typed access for design time checks, e.g. navigation links and messages are accessed via types instead of string keys like in JSF
- Diverse services for backend access, like aRFC, JEE and Web Service data models
- Integration with SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe, which are interactive PDF forms, during design (same IDE) and run time (data sharing)
- Integration with business process management and business rules management (since NetWeaver CE 7.1 EHP 1)
- Designed to support development big scale applications by adding multiple grouping layers on top of Java packages (DCs, SCs, products)
- Runs on different clients e.g. web browser, mobile device, widget engine
- Comes with a big collection of UI elements providing a wealth of functionality and only have to be configured but not programmed
Main disadvantages
- Proprietary, running only on SAP servers
- Less flexible due to support for multiple clients (i.e. custom html is not possible). To reduce the limitations, several measures have been taken. For example, WD supports so-called "islands" for e.g. flash applications that enrich the WebDynpro UI element collection by rich UI elements. This disadvantage doesn't seem so serious but in fact basic features that user expect to receive cannot be implemented (e.g. coloured rows in table, colours in general, advanced aligning of simple UI elements (due to nonexistence of more complicated ones), selecting multiple rows in tree-like tables (this is due to preserving basic concept of WD) and many more). Having the flash feature means that developer completely avoids WD UI (And thus cannot use other features).
- Rendering speed in browser for larger tables (>1000 rows)
- Renders improperly in any browser but Internet Explorer (not compatible with Explorer 9)
