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Is Web Dynpro for JAVA DEAD?

Former Member
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I would like to start coding apps for the portal in JAVA. Would it be a waste of time to use Web DynPro for JAVA and instead concentrate on JAVA calling web services?

Accepted Solutions (1)

Accepted Solutions (1)

Former Member
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Web Dynpro for Java would definitely NOT be a waste of time.

Of course it would be best for you to know all aspects of Java in the SAP environment, web services, JCo (for use in JSPs and Servlets) , etc.

My company has an entire development division just for Web Dynpro for Java, so I would say it's not a waste of time by any means.

Answers (5)

Answers (5)

Former Member
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Hello @ all,

is it still up to date?

I heard different sentiments about this topic.
I´m very pleased for any answer!

Thanks to all,

Alex

hofmann
Active Contributor
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WDJ is now the Dodo of SAP technology

Former Member
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What do you mean by Dodo ?

Former Member
former_member181883
Active Participant
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Hi All

I would like to reinforce Jochen's comments by saying that WD Java is not at all dead. We have put alot of development effort into the WD Java Demo Kit, and this shows off many of the new features in NW7.2.

I'll try to present a balanced picture here. SAP now considers WD Java to be a mature product. That means no further development effort will be invested in the creation of major new functionality. However, there will be full support for all existing customers with patches for bugs being released as and when necessary.

Does WD Java have limitations? Of course, but it appears that the rumour-mongers are using flawed logic to support their arguments (see the "cat is a dog" form of logic below).

Will SAP continue to support existing WD Java customers? Of course - not to do so would be corporate irresponsibility.

Should I start a new project on WD Java? Of course. WD Java is particularly useful if you have Java development skills, your business application needs to bring together data from non-SAP backend systems, and the supplied UI elements provide all the required functionality.

I know that rumours have been circulating that say something along the lines of "SAP is going to leave WD Java out in the cold" or "SAP is abandoning WD Java". But this is not true.

To whoever is spreading these rumours, please STOP. Personally, I find such rumours to be quite irritating because they are based on nothing more than idle speculation and flawed conjecture. I call this the "Cat is a Dog" scenario. Consider the following so-called "logical" deduction:

Statement 1: A cat is a mammal.
Statement 2: A dog is a mammal.
Conclusion : Therefore, a cat is a dog...

Hmmm, better check your logic on that one...

But when applied to SAP's situation with WD Java, some people blindly apply the same crazy logic and come up with "logical" arguments that at first seem plausible - esecially to non-technical people. For instance, the following train of "logic" is as flawed as the above "cat is a dog" logic:

Statement 1: SAP is committed to the adoption of open standards
Statement 2: WD Java is a proprietary, non-open toolset
Conclusion : Therefore, SAP will abandon WD Java.

Both statements are true, but the so-called "conclusion" cannot be derived from the two statements.

Or consider this flawed sequence of "logic"

Statement 1: WD Java does not allow UI element customisation or creation
Statement 2: All "good" UI toolsets allow you to customise or develop your own UI elements
Conclusion : Therefore, WD Java is not a "good" UI development toolset and SAP will quietly abandon it.

Again, statement 1 is correct, statement 2 is highly subjective, and the conclusion is plausible sounding nonsense.

There are plenty of other examples of flawed logic that are used to explain why SAP is supposedly abandoning WD Java, but for the sake of space, I won't quote them here.

The reality is you should think of WD Java as mature and stable, not dead.

Regards

Chris Whealy

Former Member
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Hi Chris,

Good stuff. I'm surprised with this line:

I'll try to present a balanced picture here. SAP now considers WD Java to be a mature product. That means no further development effort will be invested in the creation of major new functionality. However, there will be full support for all existing customers with patches for bugs being released as and when necessary.

Is the same true when talking about WDA?

Regards,

Daniel

Former Member
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Hi All ,

After going through all these threads I again want to work on WDJ technology.

Regards

Kavita

Former Member
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Thank you for all of your responses. I hope my intent is clear and no one thinks I mean any disrespect. I found out about the transitions of ESS and MSS to Web Dypro for ABAP and that made me wonder if SAP might not begin discouraging development with the propreitary Web Dynpro for JAVA in favor of the more open ES Bundles (Web Service) approach.

Former Member
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Hi Felix,

some comments from my side: yes it is true that ESS / MSS will move towards Web Dynpro ABAP.

BUT: Web Dynpro for Java is still the first option to build Java based UIs within the SAP eco system. For the SAP NetWeaver CE 7.11 and especially 7.20 releases we did a lot to improve Web Dynpro for Java. This starts for example with a much faster rendering, much more openenss to embed any Silverlight, Flash or HTML UIs, a lot of improvments in the web service connectivity and last but not least a lot of improvments we did in the tooling area. Please have a look into the demo kit we releases some weeks ago, as this shows all the stuff we have

You mentioned portal development: here we provide the best integration capabilites for Web Dynpro for Java and also the complete admin studio is based on Web Dynpro for Java (which is for me one of the biggest WDJ apps ever built).

So, for Java based developmnent within the SAP eco system Web Dynpro for Java is SAP´s offering.

By the way: also the internal "custom development" team within SAP als alsoCE / BPM is heavily using Web Dynpro for Java and there are no plans to change this.

And yes: there are ongoing discussions how to move forward in this area regarding HTML5, JSF support, open sourcing, etc. pp.

Best regards

Jochen

pradyut_sarma
Explorer
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I suggest you have a look at the latest features in Web Dynpro for Java ( as part of CE 7.2 ) that makes application development so much more simpler and easier for end users apart from improving the user experience. SAP wouldn't have invested so much into it if the technology was dead ;o)

former_member192152
Active Participant
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Only one sentence: Try to develop for mobile devices in ABAP Web Dynpro! (Much laughter)

regards,

Angelo