What is SAP Build Apps and how to develop a full-stack application on it?

[Sudhir_Lenka]

Introduction :

SAP Build was introduced in Nov’22, which is a Low Code & No Code platform in SAP BTP, and it offers three solutions :- SAP Build Process Automation, SAP Build Apps, and SAP Build Work zone. In this blog, I am going to explain what SAP Build Apps is and how to create a full stack App by using SAP Buil Apps. SAP Build Apps   is an evolution of SAP AppGyver, which empowers anyone to develop full-stack applications in a visual way. It is a low-code development platform to create apps for the Web and native mobile use.

Features :

1. Drag-and-Drop user interface :

SAP Build Apps enables designing of web and mobile applications in drag-and-drop fashion using a large library of customizable user interface components, logic flows, and formulas for data transformation.

1. Persist data and run application logic :

Create no-code application backends using the built-in cloud functions capabilities. Craft solutions to be used standalone or together with the existing SAP data models.

1. Integrate to SAP and other systems :

Connect your app to your no-code backend with one click. Integrate modern APIs in minutes or consume data from the cloud or SAP systems using SAP BTP Authentication and Destinations.

Environment :

SAP Build Apps is a service available in SAP BTP in the Cloud Foundry environment. SAP Build Apps is equipped with two subscription plans: free and standard.

How SAP Build App is different from SAP AppGyver :

Visual cloud functions are the most distinct change from AppGyver. It introduces a way to visually create a cloud-deployed back-end. With SAP Build, it's now possible to make back ends that fit to our case. From configuring individual database fields to building automated execution logic, visual cloud functions enable to develop a full-stack application without writing any code.

SAP Build Apps enables exporting and importing applications between environments and introduces collaboration via project sharing, which is not available in SAP AppGyver.

Apps developed in SAP AppGyver(Classic edition and Standard edition) needs to be migrated to SAP Build Apps platform soon as SAP AppGyver may retire soon. SAP AppGyver "Classic" edition has been already retired on July 31, 2023.

 Full-stack App  on SAP Buil Apps :-

In SAP Build Apps, we are going to develop an App that has its own backend, without making use of any other system or any other database. We will be using “Visual Cloud Functions” feature of SAP Buil Apps to store our application data.

“Visual Cloud Functions” is not yet enabled for mobile devices, so we will be developing a web application.

Overview of the App :

Our application will have the following features :

1. Capture and save the employee details through a form.
2. Show validation error message in the form if any field is blank.
3.  Display existing employ list and their details.

Steps to create the App in SAP Buil Apps :

We need to create two Apps in the SAP Build Apps : One App for front-end of type “Web and Mobile Applications” and other one for Back-end of type “Application Backend”.

1. Go to SAP Build Lobby and create back-end App as shown below.

1. Create an entity “Employee” with two fields “Name” and “Salary”.

1. Go to “Deployments” tab to deploy after saving the changes.

1. Go to build lobby and create the App for front-end.

1. Design the page with one form to capture employee details and one list to display existing employees.

1. Go to DATA tab and integrate with the “Visual Cloud Functions” entity created in the first App.

1. Go to “UI CANVAS” tab and implement the logic for “SAVE” button to capture and store the data in DB.

1.  Now our App is ready for build and deployment.

1. This App will be deployed in SAP BTP Cloud Foundry as a MTA App and application URL can be found from Applications section in BTP, which can be used to launch the application.

Output of the App :