The schedule for SAP Inside Track Washington DC is now available .

If you are attending please remember to bring photo ID with you as the Ronald Reagan Building is a Federal Building and has airport style security.

Each year at SAP we are invited to give back to the community in the form of volunteer days. SAP is the only company I have worked for that offers this. However there is a very simple way of giving back to the community that is open to most of us. Schools in the US and UK (and I'm sure other countries too) have career days. This is an invitation from the local schools for you to talk to the students about your career and encourage them to make positive choices.

This year I presented at a local Elementary school in the suburbs of Washington DC. Most of the professionals were policemen and secret service. Of course the most popular were those that brought big toys, a real fire truck, police cars, a dump truck and handcuffs.
This of course makes it a challenge for a software engineer to engage the students. Given the other options open, I chose part of my presentation to be robocode .

Robocode is a great entry level to introduce students and children to programming. It comes with it own Java IDE that provides a framework and coding for controlling a robot in a game. Young children seem to love things with robots in them.

I explained to the 6 and 7 year olds in the room how the robot was controlled and what they needed to do to change it. I then invited them up to make changes and run the program to see if the changes they made moved the robot as expected.

Even for those of you that are not developers the code snippet below should be simple to follow:

    public void run() {
        // Initialization of the robot should be put here

        // Some color codes: blue, yellow, black, white, red, pink, brown, grey, orange...
        // Sets these colors (robot parts): body, gun, radar, bullet, scan_arc
        setColors(orange, blue, white, yellow, black);

        // Robot main loop
        while(true) {
            // Replace the next 4 lines with any behavior you would like
            ahead(100);
            turnGunRight(360);
            back(100);
            turnGunRight(360);
        }
    }

The students changed the colors and movement and got excited watching it go crazy when they executed the program they had wrote.

The biggest surprise I got was not during the day, but a few weeks later. I received an envelope with handwritten letters from the students that had liked my presentation the best. Being best obviously being a tough task when up against flashing blue lights, wailing sirens and stories about protecting the president. The majority of the letters were from girls and a few thanked me for describing my job as they now understood better what their parents did at work, but the real icing on the cake for me was "I mabey be an enganie when I grow up!" (sic).

Such simple things and such little time can help bring a positive influence.

If you are developing for an Apple device that is accessing services that return JSON data then this parser may be of use for you.

JSON (http://www.json.org/) is a prevalent data format that represents data and objects in a very simple text based format.

The parser development is still in its infancy, but is currently a fully functional JSON Parser that converts the JSON into Cocoa objects.

If you are interested in joining the development or simply using the parser then please join the following Code Exchange Project.

https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/groups/objective-c-json-parser

It is very simply to use right now, just copy the .m and .h files to your project and invoke the parser.

Intro

What is Augmented Reality 

If you have not yet encountered Augmented Reality then Timo Elliott gives a great description in his blog.

The BI prototype came too late for me to consider, I had already made the choice to use Layar.

Layar is available on both Android and iOS, so this made it a simple choice. Covering both popular platforms ensured that the implementation was not tied to any specific platform. 

Plant Maintenance Scenario 

The scenario used for the demo was "Maintenance Inspections". The service technician will collect their shop papers and perform a maintenance inspection. This can involve visual inspection of equipment and also taking readings. Any contextual information a technician would have, would have to be carried with them in printed form.

Augmenting the Scenario

The Augmented/Mobile scenario was to replicate the shop papers on the technicians mobile device. This simply required that the maintenance orders were read and then made available with any supporting information in JSON format for Layar. 

The first enhancement to the equipment/measuring point master data was to include the geo-location for each equipment. Without this, the Augmented Reality application would not be able to identify individual items.

Simply taking the technician to the equipment is useful on its own, but so much more can be provided. Contextual information unique to the measuring points can be provided. This can be in the form of images, manuals, schematic diagrams, installation instructions and min/max measurement data.

The first view show here is the augmented view. This shows the view through the camera overlaid with helpful information for the user. An image of the equipment allows the technician to verify the correct piece of equipment as they traverse the plant. The radar at the top right shows the relative location of each piece of equipment:

The information includes images of the device (this can be 2D or 3D), measurement information in the form of min/max values (not shown here) or the values read in the case of a piece of equipment already inspected. 

The same equipment information can be shown on a map, with images of the equipment showing to guide the technician on their rounds:

The list display is similar to a job card view and is a list of the tasks/equipment inspections for the technician:

Each piece of equipment has an associated list of actions. These actions are specific to the equipment. This is where it gets really interesting. Contextual actions make providing a lot of equipment specific information on the mobile device simple. These actions can take the form of user manuals, vendor contact details or a means to enter the measurements directly on the device and receive immediate feedback. Actions can also use native features of the mobile device, such as the camera for SMS, making calls or sending emails.

When entering measurements the immediate feedback can be provided such as shutdown information in the case of a critical reading.

Next Steps

This application was created as a proof of concept on how Augmented Reality can be used to improve an existing process. Maintenance seemed to be an obvious one, but I am sure that there are plenty more. It would be interested to investigate other processes.

I used PHP to provide my Plant Maintenance data to Layar after it was updated by a scheduled report running on the Plant Maintenance system. The PHP is not mandatory and could be replaced by an ABAP based approach using one of the JSON libraries that are available now, assuming the Plant Maintenance server is publicly available.

If there is enough interest I will create a project in Code Exchange to provide an extensible integration with some Augmented Reality applications. 

Demo Jam Video

You can see the Demo Jam Las Vegas presentation here: http://www.sapteched.com/usa/activities/demojam.htm

Looking at this from the standpoint of a howeowner and not a utilities company I was trying to find a way to monitor and analyze the energy use in my home without relying on my providers bills.

So now I can check the current consumption via my iPhone or via a Web Page. The iPhone is best viewed on an iPhone/iPod Touch.

Once you have easily accessible information it is very enlightening. The cost of appliances in my home definitely did not reflect what I had expected. In fact 5 computers, a TV, PS3, FIOS receiver, 2 fridge freezers and a bunch of lights turns out to cosume less than half the energy of boiling an electric kettle.

The graph of results shows makes interesting reading. Peaks represent appliances such as the tumble dryer and washing machine. It definitely makes you think about being more efficient with the heavy duty appliances.

Technical Details

My first thoughts were to get an old electricity meter and add a STAMP module to it, however there are far simpler ways to do this. You can buy off the shelf units such as The Energy Detective.

There are also project options available that can work out a lot cheaper. The Adafruit Tweet a kit is a modification to the Kill a Watt meter that will tweet for individual appliances in your home.

I bought an energy detective. This requires the sender unit to be wired into your home with the circuit breaker. A remote unit then reads the signal embedded in the power supply and displays power consumption and voltage on a convenient unit. The unit has an USB port that you can connect to a windows machine and use the corresponding software to monitor your usage.

My initial goal was to take those readings and make them available on my iPhone. However once the link from the meter to the server was made it opened all sorts of opportunities.

The meter is read using a python script running on a Mac Mini (scanwidget). The script periodically reads the data via the USB port and posts it to a publicly available server via a PHP script. The readings are stored in a mysql database. The same time the readings are stored, any increase in the peak daily KW usage is tweeted.

The same server hosts

• A web page showing some latest readings and current reading with some flash based UI
• An iPhone Web Application

Other links

Once I was almost complete obviously then it was when I found out there are other initiatives ongoing for consumers to monitor their energy usage.

HomeCamp
Google PowerMeter

If you need help installing the SAP Widget Tools or creating a Widget then I am hosting a hands on session at Community Day Las Vegas. Please come by and visit.

If you are not at Community Day and would still like some help then please ping me and we can book some time in the Networking Lounge at the Community Clubhouse. If you don't find me wandering around the clubhouse you can reach me via email.

 If you do not already have the tools then you can download them from here:

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/widget-foundation

You can get some background information from the existing blogs and guides :
Getting Started on SAP Enterprise Widgets

For guides including videos on how to create a widget from scratch please see here:
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/widget-foundation .

The widget is a modified version of the TechEd Schedule widget (thanks to Sebastian Steinhauer and Stefan Huettenrauch).

Widget UI

Configuration

There are 5 config parameters.
Username
This is the username for authentication on the server.
Password
This is the password for authentication on the server.
Host
The ABAP host. This should not include the protocol.
Port
The port on the server for the service
Service
The path of the service, this should be "/sap/bc/soap/rfc". Ideally I should have hard coded this.

Download

The widget can be downloaded from here

ABAP Coding

The code is almost the same as that provided by Alvaro. The only changes are a sort call, a change on the select params and a try catch to catch errors I occasionally got on the backend. The function module must be remote enabled.

FUNCTION zget_st22.*"----------------------------------------------------------------------*"*"Local Interface:*"  IMPORTING*"     VALUE(DATUM_INI) TYPE  SY-DATUM OPTIONAL*"     VALUE(DATUM_END) TYPE  SY-DATUM OPTIONAL*"     VALUE(UZEIT_INI) TYPE  SY-UZEIT OPTIONAL*"     VALUE(UZEIT_END) TYPE  SY-UZEIT OPTIONAL*"     VALUE(UNAME_INI) TYPE  SNAP_BEG-UNAME OPTIONAL*"     VALUE(UNAME_END) TYPE  SNAP_BEG-UNAME OPTIONAL*"  TABLES*"      FLIST STRUCTURE  SNAP_BEG*"----------------------------------------------------------------------  DATA: w_tabix TYPE sy-tabix,        id(2) TYPE c,        len(3) TYPE c,        prog_pos TYPE sy-fdpos,        prog_aux TYPE string,        cm_pos TYPE sy-fdpos,        cm_len TYPE sy-fdpos,        cm_aux TYPE sy-fdpos,        cm_posx TYPE sy-fdpos,        length TYPE i.  DATA: BEGIN OF r_datum OCCURS 1,        sign(1),        option(2),        low  TYPE sy-datum,        high TYPE sy-datum,        END OF r_datum.  DATA: BEGIN OF r_uzeit OCCURS 1,        sign(1),        option(2),        low  TYPE sy-uzeit,        high TYPE sy-uzeit,        END OF r_uzeit.  DATA: BEGIN OF r_uname OCCURS 1,        sign(1),        option(2),        low  TYPE snap_beg-uname,        high TYPE snap_beg-uname,        END OF r_uname.  r_datum-sign = 'I'.  IF datum_ini EQ '00000000' AND datum_end EQ '00000000'.    r_datum-option = ' '.  ELSEIF datum_ini NE '00000000' AND datum_end NE '00000000'.    r_datum-option = 'BT'.    MOVE datum_ini TO r_datum-low.    MOVE datum_end TO r_datum-high.    APPEND r_datum.  ELSE.    r_datum-option = 'EQ'.    MOVE datum_ini TO r_datum-low.    APPEND r_datum.  ENDIF.  r_uzeit-sign = 'I'.  IF uzeit_ini EQ '000000' AND uzeit_end EQ '000000'.    r_uzeit-option = ' '.  ELSEIF uzeit_ini NE '000000' AND uzeit_end NE '000000'.    r_uzeit-option = 'BT'.    MOVE uzeit_ini TO r_uzeit-low.    MOVE uzeit_end TO r_uzeit-high.    APPEND r_uzeit.  ELSE.    r_uzeit-option = 'EQ'.    MOVE uzeit_ini TO r_uzeit-low.    APPEND r_uzeit.  ENDIF.  r_uname-sign = 'I'.  IF uname_ini EQ space AND uname_end EQ space.    r_uname-option = ' '.  ELSEIF uname_ini NE space AND uname_end NE space.    r_uzeit-option = 'BT'.    MOVE uname_ini TO r_uname-low.    MOVE uname_end TO r_uname-high.    APPEND r_uname.  ELSE.    r_uname-option = 'EQ'.    MOVE uname_ini TO r_uname-low.    APPEND r_uname.  ENDIF.  SELECT datum uzeit ahost uname mandt flist  INTO CORRESPONDING FIELDS OF TABLE flist  FROM snap_beg  WHERE datum IN r_datum    AND uzeit IN r_uzeit    AND uname IN r_uname.  DELETE flist WHERE NOT flist(2) EQ 'FC'.  SORT flist BY datum DESCENDING uzeit descending .  IF NOT flist[] IS INITIAL.    LOOP AT flist.      TRY.          w_tabix = sy-tabix.          length = STRLEN( flist-flist ).          id = flist-flist+0(2).          IF id EQ 'FC'.            len = flist-flist+2(3).            SEARCH flist-flist FOR 'CM'.            cm_len = sy-fdpos.            cm_pos = length - cm_len.            cm_aux = cm_len + 2.            cm_posx = flist-flist+cm_aux(3).            cm_len = cm_len + cm_posx.            cm_pos = cm_pos - cm_len.            prog_aux = flist-flist+cm_len(cm_pos).            SEARCH prog_aux FOR 'AP'.            prog_pos = sy-fdpos + 5.            CONCATENATE flist-flist+5(len) prog_aux+prog_pos(40)            INTO flist-flist SEPARATED BY '/'.            MODIFY flist INDEX w_tabix            TRANSPORTING flist.      ENDIF.          CATCH cx_root.        ENDTRY.    ENDLOOP.  ENDIF.ENDFUNCTION.

Development Environment

Usually when developing a widget that accesses a Web Service I use another widget that lets me test Soap Requests and monitor the response with TCPDUMP. Unfortunately that widget runs on my Mac that has no SAP access right now. I had to find a way to view the SOAP headers. Some of the other tools I use are Scripting in a box and the SAP Scripting tool (Eclipse add in). Using the PHP generated from the scripting tool I added the following line:
       print '

This allowed me to see the headers without having to use the Mac.

Possible Enhancements

Being able to lauch directly into ST22 would be nice, as would wrapping the text on the display.

Another problem is that I am being challenged for credentials on a PC, but not a Mac. Hopefully I can figure this one out.

The resultant user list is displayed, selecting a user will display more details in the details window.

In the configuration it is possible to set the system endpoint and authentication data. The path and SoapAction are the same across systems.

The UI is modelled on the SAP Argo Widget.

The widget can be downloaded here