Web Dynpro and Abobe Flex

[#1]

Hi Folks,

I've seen a couple of responses to questions about the mixing of Web Dynpro and Adobe Flex technologies...

This thread mentions a "Flex Client" which is reportedly able to render existing Web Dynpro apps in Flex:

This thread mentions a technology called "Web Dynpro Islands" which is apparently Flex components within Web Dynpro apps:

These concepts seem very different to me - the first being a run-time solution to Flex rendering and the second, design-time. In my opinion, the Flex Client sounds like a more flexible (excuse the pun) solution as it allows the designer to concentrate on application functionality and leaves the visual styling to the GUI. Following on from this thought, the Flex Client gives an added benefit in that, if the person executing the app wants to view it in the current WD style as opposed to Flex, they have this option by choosing a different rendering tool/user interface... and the underlying WD app remains untouched!

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

On a potentially negative side of the Flex Client technology, is the this client yet another GUI tool that needs to be rolled-out and maintained on users' PCs or will it simply be a plugin that can be downloaded on-the-fly and used in a web browser (in a similar way to an ActiveX control)?

I hope this stimulates some interesting discussions...

Cheers

Glen

[thomas_jung · Accepted solution]

>On a potentially negative side of the Flex Client technology, is the this client yet another GUI tool that needs to be rolled-out and maintained on users' PCs or will it simply be a plugin that can be downloaded on-the-fly and used in a web browser (in a similar way to an ActiveX control)?

There is nothing that needs to really be maintained on the PC. The Flex Client is a single SWF component and gets push down to the client on demand like any other Flash Component.

Your assessment is pretty accurate. However the Islands technology does have a very different use case from the flex client. The Flex Client (which is already used today in Visual Composer), simply provides what some people feel is a better looking, nicer user experience to the same Web Dynpro application. One of the main benefits is that you don't have to change anything in your application to use the Flex Client.

The Islands is very different. The idea here is that you can place islands of high interactivity within Web Dynpro. These would generally be a new UI element that simply couldn't be created using HTML or JavaScript. The Island (which might itself be Flex) can then be used in any of the clients - HTML/Browser, NetWeaver Business Client or the Flex Client.

[Former Member]

Thanks Thomas! I was hoping you'd be around to shed some light on this...

You're explanation of the use of Web Dynpro Islands was very useful - I was assuming that any UI elements created for Flex designer could also be created as a Web Dynpro component for the Web Dynpro designer (ABAP or Java) but you make a good point that they have different capabilities.

I think, my biggest concern was that the visual style of the WD Island/Flex component would be so different to the the rest of the WD app that it would stick out like a sore thumb but if you use the Flex Client to render it, as you suggested, then every UI element in the app should look and behave consistently... another assumption...

This makes me wonder whether we'll need to use the Flex Client for all our portal apps to keep the look-and-feel consistent throughout the portal. There's nothing worse to a user than having one UI element behave a certain way in one app and a totally different way in another - eg. compare the scrolling functionality of the WD table element to the Flex table element.

I'll look forward to hearing more about the Flex Client in the near future.

Cheer

Glen

[thomas_jung]

I think, my biggest concern was that the visual style of the WD Island/Flex component would be so different to the the rest of the WD app that it would stick out like a sore thumb but if you use the Flex Client to render it, as you suggested, then every UI element in the app should look and behave consistently... another assumption

No not necessarily. The different look and feel of the island is a valid concern. Usage of the islands technology will have to be done carefully because it will be easy to introduce an islands that is a vastly different design. The island components being built within SAP are following very strict guidlines and are reusing some of the same style setting from the flex client to ensure overall harmonization with the surround WD component.

This makes me wonder whether we'll need to use the Flex Client for all our portal apps to keep the look-and-feel consistent throughout the portal.

Not necessarily. The Flex Client has little touches that set it out, but in general the UI style is very consisent with both the newer HTML WD and the NWBC smart client rendering. Today we already have Visual Composer CE 7.1 applications that render in the Flex Client that run alongside regular HTML WD applications in the portal and the visual difference isn't that great.