Application Component

[Former Member]

I am building a new application on a new system. The expression type CRM Web Request was not visible among the available expression types. A search of the web failed to uncover a reason.

A colleague instructed me to set the value of Application Component on my application to "CRM". I did this and the CRM Web Request expression appeared.

I then did a second search of the web looking for why this should work. I still failed to find anything telling me I should have used this value. There is no drop down list of values for the field.

The help on https://help.sap.com/saphelp_crm700_ehp03/helpdata/en/40/ecd7d31a4f4636b0c337f0426213dc/content.htm?...

says to leave the field blank.

Can someone point me to where is the help this value is described?

Thanks

Cliff

[ttrapp · Accepted solution]

Hi Cliff,

I have a remark above mentioned pattern from SAP and I consider it as really bad. In larger development projects customers have their own hierarchy of application components or use a different system. Where is the problem? it makes absolutely sense to label the a BRFplus application to a package and the BRFplus applications inherits the application component from the package.

So I'm very unlucky if SAP forces us to use the mechanism of application components especially to use SAP application components since we can't use certain expression types or can't reuse certain BRFplus applications from SAP. IMHO there should be a BRFplus plus user Exit so that we can take over.

Best Regards,

Tobias

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks for that Tobias. However I'm still missing key parts of the picture.

• What is an Application Component? It was never discussed during BRF+ training.
• Where would I find documentation telling me I had to set this value? I have searched the net and not found anything. It appears to be a dark secret and if my colleague had not been a practitioner of the dark arts I would never have discovered it.

Cheers

Cliff

[anindyaSAP · Accepted solution]

Hi Cliff,

You may have a look at the below documentation that gives you a good understanding to start with:

Application - Business Rule Framework plus (BRFplus) - SAP Library

Regards,

Anindya

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks for that. The link you sent is to the BRF Help. I have navigated from there to the specific entry on Application Component Setting Properties - Business Rule Framework plus (BRFplus) - SAP Library

There it says "Under the Detail section, under the Properties tab, enter the application context in the Application Component field."

I am still missing any information about what values are permitted in this field and where I might find them.

Cheers

Cliff

[christianlechne · Accepted solution]

Hi Cliff,

the application component is not BRF+ specific. It comes also into play when creating packages or when creating an OSS (here it is the component that  you enter in order to send it to the right processors).

You find the available values for that field are available e. g. in the view DF14VD. Here the field PS_POSID is the one you are looking for.

Hope that helps

BR

Christian

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Christian,

Thanks for that. I found the view and you are correct, it contains "CRM" as an entry.

Still I am missing parts of the puzzle.

• as a BRF+ developer I would expect the BRF+ help to provide information on this. I have yet to find anything in the BRF+ help that describes the purpose of the field.
• I had assumed the BRF+ expression Read CRM Web Request was standard functionality. However it does not appear unless I have set this field. Again there should be some documentation somewhere describing this.

Thanks

Cliff

[christianlechne · Accepted solution]

Hi Cliff,

for your first question: I would guess that this is due to the fact that the application component is not a BRF+ feature but a general concept in SAP (e. g. when creating packages). So that might be the reason why it is not documented in BRF+. I would also appreciate an F4 help on that one as it is the case when creating a package in ABAP but some how this is missing in BRF+. I am not aware of any resaon for that

for your second question: I have no access to a system with CRM on it, so I can make only an educated guess on that one. Please check the access level of the CRM expression you want to use in the general section of the expression. I would guess that it is restricted to the application component (see help.sap.com: Setting an Access Level - Business Rule Framework plus (BRFplus) - SAP Library), so it is accessible only from Applications/Rules that are assigned to the same application component although they are delivered as SAP standard

BR

Christian

[former_member227510 · Accepted solution]

Hi Christian,

Can u refer the thread below and guide:

Regards,

Gopa

[Former Member]

Hi Cliff,

the "CRM..." Expression and Action Types have been developed within the product Social Services and are only available in a CRM environment. Unfortunately it hasn't been mentioned in the documentation that it's necessary to enter a CRM* application component. This will be corrected.

BR,

Thomas

[Former Member]

Thanks for that Thomas. I am new to SAP and so some of the earlier answers assumed a level of knowledge that I lack.

Cheers

Cliiff

[ttrapp]

I think it is good that it will be mentioned in the documentation but I will again explain why I don't like this approach and will make a Suggestion how to improve it.

There are good reasons (think of software logistics) to assign a BRFplus application to an ABAP package. In this case the application component is taken from the package. But what happens when customers have an own application hierarchy? In this case there they will assigned to to the package, taken to the BRFplus application with the consequence that you can't use those CRM expression types.

A User Exit (BRFplus application class) could help here.

Best Regards,

Tobias