- SAP Managed Tags
The difference is that Web Dynpro is a standard user interface, you can not change the look and feel of the UI elements, BSP allows you to put any kind of html tags or javascript into it. Using HTMLB in your BSP does look a lot like Web Dynpro, but you have to code the UI manually. Using Web Dynpro, the use UI elements are dragged and dropped onto the layout and you set the properties of the UI element. The HTMLB code is generated behind the scences automatically. This helps to prevent errors in your layout. Web Dynpro is just another technology that you can use to write applications that you can access via EP(Netweaver Portal). Please don't confuse EP with an application development technology. EP is only the frontend for the user to access all of your applications in one place. These apps can be BSP, JSP, Web DYnpro Java, Web Dynpro ABAP.
Make sense?
Regards,
Rich Heilman
PS.
Put yourself on the SDN world map (http://sdn.idizaai.be/sdn_world/sdn_world.html) and earn 25 points.
Spread the wor(l)d!
- SAP Managed Tags
The difference is that Web Dynpro is a standard user interface, you can not change the look and feel of the UI elements, BSP allows you to put any kind of html tags or javascript into it. Using HTMLB in your BSP does look a lot like Web Dynpro, but you have to code the UI manually. Using Web Dynpro, the use UI elements are dragged and dropped onto the layout and you set the properties of the UI element. The HTMLB code is generated behind the scences automatically. This helps to prevent errors in your layout. Web Dynpro is just another technology that you can use to write applications that you can access via EP(Netweaver Portal). Please don't confuse EP with an application development technology. EP is only the frontend for the user to access all of your applications in one place. These apps can be BSP, JSP, Web DYnpro Java, Web Dynpro ABAP.
Make sense?
Regards,
Rich Heilman
PS.
Put yourself on the SDN world map (http://sdn.idizaai.be/sdn_world/sdn_world.html) and earn 25 points.
Spread the wor(l)d!
- SAP Managed Tags
Not sure which is hot in the real world. Web Dynpro ABAP is hot in the SDN world because it is new. BSP has its advantages, like the fact that you can create any layout that you want with javascript and everything. I'm sure that our good friend Thomas Jung will be around to comment further on the advantages of BSP. I would suggest learning BSP first, because it will help you to understand the underlying technology. WebDynpro kind of masks what is really going on below the surface. I know this because, on the java side, I started doing JSP pages where this is simular to BSP, but on the java side. It taught me about things that I would NOT have seen using Web Dynpro Java. Now that I'm using Web Dynpro java, I have a better understanding of what is going on underneath.
I do regret to say that I have not worked with BSPs other than 1 or 2 tutorials. My hope is to backtrack and learn more about BSPs to suppliment my Web Dynpro ABAP knowledge.
Regards,
Rich Heilman
- SAP Managed Tags
Rich has done a good breakdown for you already, but since he invited me to comment I will give my 2 cents worth.
Web Dynpro is really designed for building business transactions not custom websites. It is excellent at business transactions (replacements for classic dynpro/SAPGui Transactions) because it does bring a new better disciplined model into play. But because of this focus on busines transations it has some intentional designs that make it inappropriate for many custom website (such a customer/supplier facing applications) projects. First of all you can't create your own UI elements. You have only limited ability to change the look and feel of the existing elements. You can't control the rendering down to the pixel level. But these design decisions were done for a good reason. This way you have consistency in your internal business transactions - which is a very good thing.
Another difference is also that Web Dynpro is not focused just on HTML/Javascript as its output medium. It can also render out an XML description of the UI. This is important for the future because as better rendering environments than the current crop of browsers come along (ie - smartclient, Muse, Flash/Flex/Apollo, etc) Web Dynpro can automatically take advantage of these features without you having to change your business applications. It is a true separation of UI technology from business application.
With JSP/BSP you have the freedom to create your own UI elements, use your own custom HTML, JavaScript, etc. You can create AJAX applications in BSP/JSP if you want. I just created a site this morning that needed to have a very specific look and feel to it. In order to acomidate this look I had my BSP skills to fall back on.
In the long run I think that the role of BSP as it is today will be somewhat diminished. Customers today are often using it to create business transactions that would be better built in Web Dynpro ABAP. However it would be a shame if it went away all together. There is still a valuable use case for it. As a developer I would want both skillsets in my toolbox.
As to which is hotter right now. Well you can probably find more active jobs for BSP. Web Dynpro ABAP is only available for Netweaver04S and higher. It may be awhile (as customers go through upgrade cycles) before you see job positions looking specifically for Web Dynpro ABAP skills open up. However in the long term, Web Dynpro ABAP skills will become a very hot property. There is already a lot of demand for learning on the topic as seen here in SDN.
Bluesky