SAP HCI Cannot create Content Modifier External Parameter in Web UI

[#1]

I am not able to create an External parameter for the Content modifier. The dropdown is not enabled.

I followed the URL External parameter not working HCI Web with a user who has the same issue. The recommendation was to create the external parameter in Eclipse and deploy that.

So I created this in Eclipse:

Then I click on the Externalized Parameters tab (in between the Console and the Remote Systems tab).

Then I sync with the Editor, add the values, and then save the parameters.

I execute checks for the flow and make sure everything looks good. Then I deploy the integration content from Eclipse. I check the deployment in the console and tasks view and I get no errors:

However, when I create the external parameter for the Content modifier in Eclipse and deploy, I still do not see the external parameter that I created in Eclipse in the Web UI.

[engswee]

Hi Jay

External parameter in Content Modifier on WebUI does not work for me too.

As to your Eclipse changes, deploying them does not mean that it will appear in WebUI. Nothing you deploy from Eclipse will appear in WebUI - it's unfortunate that it's that way, but that's the way things are. To "sync" your changes between WebUI and Eclipse, you need to use the workaround mentioned in my blog below:-

HCI: Transferring Integration Package Content from WebUI to Eclipse and back

Regards

Eng Swee

[jmalla]

Hi Eng Swee,

Thanks for your response. We did confirm with SAP technical support that this was a bug with the deployment from Eclipse if there is an existing flow on the tenant - the parameters.prop and parameters.propdef do not get updated correctly. I have written out the full response on the reply to Sriprasad's note following this one with exact steps on the work around - which does work. I will add a BLOG about it - but at least the issue and workaround is covered in this post.

I appreciate your help and look forward to your BLOGs.

Thanks,

Jay

[jmalla]

Hi Eng Swee - actually if you do deploy from Eclipse, the flow does make it to the tenant - but it does not get tied to a package. Basically, the project in Eclipse has no idea about HCI packages. So you have to export from Eclipse as a ZIP and then import into the package in Web UI to tie this to a package. And with the bug, you should actually delete the flow from the package in Web UI first and then import the zip exported from Eclipse as the work around.

Thanks,

Jay

[engswee]

Hi Jay

Let's be very clear about the fundamentals here with regards to the following two items:-

• Design time artifact
• Runtime/Deployed artifact

Web UI (Design) section and Eclipse deals with designing design time artifacts. If you design in Eclipse, and deploy from Eclipse, only the Deployed artifact is changed in the tenant, and this is only reflected in Web UI - Monitoring section. Deployment from Eclipse DO NOT update the design time artifact in Web UI - Design section.

If you do not get this fundamentals, you can test this out by creating an arbitrary project in Eclipse and deploying it into the tenant. If you go to Web UI, you cannot see the project in Design (i.e. design time artifact is not transferred), and you can only see the deployed integration flow in Monitoring (i.e. deployed artifact is transferred).

An analogy to this is a Java development,

• Java source code - design time artifact
• Java compiled library (JAR file) - runtime artifact

You do not deploy a design time artifact into a server to execute it, you deploy the runtime artifact.

If you get this, then you can make sense of why you had to do what you had to do. Hope this helps.

Regards

Eng Swee