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julieplummer20
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

I've noticed that we had spread the information below in lots of different places, so I thought it might be a good idea to bring it all together. It is mainly a link list to point you to the relevant content. There are a few omissions, but I wanted to post the current state before Christmas.

Please note that this blog tells you only what is technically possible: It does not tell you whether or not consuming the content in NWBC (as opposed to another client) is a good idea. So, you should always read this blog in conjunction with this one: When to use NWBC...


I’ve split the blog into 3 sections:

- Main use cases: NWBC is the standard client for the Business Suite and these are the UI technologies for which NWBC was designed, and for which we recommend NWBC – SAP GUI, Web Dynpro ABAP, SAP Fiori apps, and many other SAP UI5 applications (for details, see below). Note that since side panels are such a big topic, I put them, and Page Builder entry pages in another document: Side Panels and Entry Pages.


- Other use cases: NWBC is intended for occasional consumption of these applications. That is, if you spend roughly 80-90% of your time in ABAP-based, on-premise transactions or Web Dynpro applications, but want occasional access to CRM / BI content etc, then you can use NWBC. However, if you spend most of your time in CRM (for example), then you should use the dedicated CRM client. I have already dealt with this in detail in the blog When to use NWBC…,so I won’t repeat myself at length here.


- Miscellaneous

I have also added a section for useful information that doesn't quite fit in the UI-specific sections, such as UI theme designer. (It is, of course, UI5-based, but it works with a variety of SAP UI technologies, so a reader might not look for it there).

Main Use Cases

SAP GUI

Note that there are 2 flavors of NWBC: NWBC for Desktop and NWBC for HTML. NWBC for Desktop consumes SAP GUI for Windows if it is installed, but switches to SAP GUI for HTML if not. NWBC for HTML consumes SAP GUI for HTML. NWBC is not compatible with SAP GUI for Java.

For more information on SAP GUI in general, see:

SAP GUI family (SCN)

SAP GUI for Windows (UX Explorer)

For more information on SAP GUI 7.40, which is much more tightly integrated with NWBC 5.0, see: Announcing SAP GUI for Windows 7.40.

SAP Screen Personas

When to use SAP NetWeaver Business Client and SAP Screen Personas Together (blog)

SAP Screen Personas and Side Panel (SCN discussion)

SAP Screen Personas (SCN Wiki)

SAP Screen Personas (UX Explorer)

Web Dynpro ABAP

This includes the following:

Side Panel /EHP6 onwards);

Page Builder entry pages (EHP5 onwards)

As I said, there is so much information on side panels that I’ve put this in a separate blog for clarity:

Side Panel and Page Builder Entry Pages

Floorplan Manager (FPM - EHP4 onwards)

(NWBC is the recommended client)

NWBC integrates different UI Technologies such as FPM to reduce development costs and to improve the user experience. With a highly configurable and adaptable UI we follow the pattern approach to achieve a harmnonized UI and  coherent user experience.

The following video shows how to configure your application using FPM, modification free: NWBC 4.0 with FPM

The following is a list of all SAP GUI transactions that have been converted to Web Dynpro / FPM applications, with the relevant role, business function, and enhancement pack:

Business Suite Renovation with Web Dynpro ABAP (PDF)

For more information on Floor Plan Manager in general, see:

Floorplan Manager (SAP Help Portal)

Floorplan Manager (SCN)

Floorplan Manager (UX Explorer)

Power Lists / Personal Object Worklists (POWLs - EHP2 onwards)

(NWBC is the recommended client)

Both Power Lists (POWLs) and NWBC are role-based, using the PFCG role repository, SAP recommends that you use SAP NetWeaver Business Client with POWLs.

Some customers have experienced out-of-memory errors when using a very large query. You can avoid this by limiting the scope of the query. See this thread (comment by damean-bf.chen) for details: Re: POWLs and CX_SHM_OUT_OF_MEMORY .

The following enablement kit contains a complete list of all POWLs available:

Enablement Kit for SAP NetWeaver Business Client – SAP Help Portal Page

Navigate to your language, eg English. On the yellow strip that appears, choose the 2nd point - Concepts, then choose the POWL.xlsx on the right.

To find what transactions are available in your system, use the transaction POWL_COCKPIT. See also the documentation for this: Cockpit for POWL Administration

For more information in general, see:

POWLs (SCN Wiki)

SAP Library documentation on POWLs

POWL Framework (UX Explorer).

Note that POWLs are single system only. For this reason, they have been superceded for many customers. Brad Pokroy has written an excellent compare and contrast feature matrix for our different Inbox /Worklist options: Workflow Inbox Feature Comparison Matrix

SAP UI5

There are currently several types of SAP UI5 application:

SAP Fiori UX

NWBC 5.0 (PL7 or later) now supports SAP Fiori app integration, launched from the Index Page (using PFCG roles). See the following how-to blog for how to implement this: Integrating NWBC 5.0 and Fiori Apps

SAP BC 6.0 fully supports the above, plus

  • SAP Fiori Launchpad integrated in SAP BC 6.0.
  • The ability to launch a SAP GUI for Windows native transaction from the Fiori Launchpad.

          This video shows you how to create a SAP GUI transaction tile in Fiori Launchpad Designer


HCM Renewal 1.0

This is a core use case for NWBC. With this new functionality, SAP offers a more user friendly, harmonized and intuitive
experience
. In this blog,  New SAP HCM Functionality - HR Renewal 1.0, SAP Mentor Jarret Pazahanick provides details and some nice screenshots of this innovation.

For more information, see also:

Renewal of SAP Human Capital Management (SAP HCM) (UX Explorer)

UI theme designer

In time, SAP UI theme designer will become the one tool for theming and branding user interface across multiple UI clients and technologies. It requires NWBC 4.0 PL7 or later. It is available as part of NetWeaver UI Add-Ons.

For more information, see either of the following two SCN blogs (both include lots of links):

UI theme designer Developer Center  - more useful for me: It includes 2 nice videos showing you how to integrate UI theme designer and NWBC:

Part One - How to create a new theme

Part Two - How to configure NWBC to use an existing theme.

There's also this link list: SAP Fiori UX - theme designer

plus:

UI Add-On 1.0 (SAP Help Portal)

UI theme designer (UX Explorer)

SAP Visual Business

This can be consumed:

For more information on SAP Visual Business in general, see

SAP Visual Business (SCN)

SAP Visual Business (UX Explorer)

SAP Visual Enterprise

This is generally consumed in NWBC as a side panel. For more information, see:

Side Panels: SAP Visual Enterprise Viewer ("CAD Viewer")

SAP Visual Enterprise Viewer (video)

SAP Visual Enterprise (UX Explorer)

SAP S/4HANA, on-premiseedition

... is supported by SAP BC, since the main UI technologies used in SAP S/4HANA are supported in SAP BC: SAP Fiori / SAPUI5, Web Dynpro, SAP GUI.

SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition is not supported by SAP BC.

For more information, see When to use NWBC... : SAP S/4HANA

Other Use Cases

SAP Business Intelligence (BI)

Currently, it is possible to consume occasional BI content, similar to CRM content. However, this is not documented.

For example, it is possible to call most BI content via a URL of the form: http://<server:port>/BOE/OpenDocument/opendoc/openDocument.jsp?sIDType=CUID&iDocID=<ID>

To pass the current context (navigation state / filter) with the report, you can use the

report-report interface (RRI). There also an exit that receives the current context and that allows you to generate your own URL (this is properly required in case of WebI using the so-called OpenDocument-URL of BO).

See http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw73/helpdata/en/b2/259b06d406454fa8429240ecaed4f6/frameset.htm and http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw73/helpdata/en/45/e52af6a7c56f74e10000000a1553f6/frameset.htm.

SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

You can use individual WebClient UI components integrated with SAP NetWeaver Business Client (NWBC).

For more information, see SAP Library - SAP CRM: Basic Configuration, Chapter Integration with SAP NetWeaver Business Client: Setting Up Integration with SAP NetWeaver Business Client - SAP CRM: Basic Configuration - SAP Libra...

To fulfil the prerequisites for this documentation, you need to create a trusted relationship and single sign-on.

For more information, see this blog series:

You then create a PFCG menu entry (Type = "Web address or file"), in the form:

http://<server:port>/sap/crm_logon?sap-client=800&sap-language=EN

For more information on the parameters that you can include in the URL, see: URLs for quick access to Web UI Client (SCN)

SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe (IFbA)

IFbA is the go-to forms solution for new forms projects, both for print forms and interactive forms. Over 2400 forms in the Business Suite are provided out-of-the-box. Generally, these forms are integrated in Web Dynpro applications. Alternatively, you can embed a form in a role using Role Maintenance (PFCG), by creating a role menu entry of type Web Address or File.

For documentation, see: Enabling Form-Based Processing of Business Data .

For more information, see also the SCN space: SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe

SAP Supply Relationship Management (SAP SRM)

You can run SRM in NWBC / SAP BC for Desktop or NWBC for HTML.

There are some limitations. The main one is in SAP Note 1476447:

I. Harmonized roles in NWBC HTML or NWBC Client


The following restriction should be considered before using harmonized roles in NWBC HTML or NWBC Client. This restriction is not applicable when you use Netweaver Enterprise Portal.

2nd level navigation in ERP is not supported when you use harmonized roles in NWBC HTML or NWBC client.
-  For example, you search for purchase order in POWL and click on an ERP purchase order. The purchase order is displayed. Now, if you click on any of the links in purchase order pointing to another ERP transaction, you may receive an error message that "Transaction is not recognized".

"2nd level navigation" means: Object-Based Navigation (OBN) is supported in NWBC. However, if a link points to a remote system, then OBN is not supported in the remote system.

Please check the note for other features and constraints.

Also, please check the documentation:

Portal-Independent Navigation Frame - SAP Library

It also contains a list of constraints.

Miscellaneous Information

Configuring OBN for NWBC

This document is stored in a different SCN space, but is really useful for us:

How to Configure Object Based Navigation (OBN) for Netweaver Business Client (NWBC)

As is this:

OBN (object based navigation) errors - Technology Troubleshooting Guide - SCN Wiki

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