SAP Java / J2EE

1. Scripting in a Box adds new languages for SAP ABAP developers

2. Book Excerpt: The ABAP Developer's Guide to Java

3. SAP Developer Network spreads NetWeaver message

Scripting in a Box adds new languages for SAP ABAP developers

SAP developers may no longer have to find and install all the different SAP connectors and correct versions needed to use alternative scripting languages.

An SAP employee has developed Scripting in a Box, which packages a full open source scripting environment onto a computer desktop or USB stick. Through a single script file, a development environment is automatically configured on a drive of a developer's choice. Preloaded sample applications inside the package are ready to connect to SAP back-end systems through a login screen.

"It shows how easily it is to connect to systems and make calls and modifications on the fly," said Craig Cmehil, who developed the free product. "Refresh the page and they can have the customized changes right then and there."

The environment supports Perl, PHP, and Python and Ruby and support for Ruby on Rails will be released as early as this week in version 1.0, Cmehil said. The package includes development tools, including MySQL open source database and Apache open source server, as well as the SAP RFC library, Perl, and Python SAP connectors.

Cmehil, who serves as an SAP evangelist at the SAP Developer Network, said that scripting is being used mainly by firms that are running a Web server with a PHP or Perl engine. Companies that don't have the resources to purchase SAP Portal also can choose scripting as an alternative, he said.

"It doesn't make sense for a company to tell its Java guys that they have to learn the scripting language," Cmehil said. "I hope Scripting in a Box will give the option to a company that is sitting there with five ABAP developers and they have a PHP or Perl based intranet set up and they want to start putting data from SAP into it."

Scripts are typically used to program graphical interfaces, but developers also use them to write programs. For example, a simple address book within an SAP application or a customer based application can be written in one of the scripting languages to reduce the size of the footprint.

"If a company is running a NetWeaver installation, you can use Web services with these languages as well," Cmehil said.

Prior to Scripting in a Box, developers had to install a connector to connect to the SAP component they wanted to work with a scripting language. Scripting languages are usually shorter and take up less space, Cmehil said. For example, a program written in Java could take 100 lines of code, but if it was written in PHP or another open source language it would likely be about 20 lines of code, he said.

Cmehil said he has been working to build out the scripting language community on the SAP Developer Network. Many developers have been calling for a package to make demonstrations to company managers about how the company can use PHP to create applications that integrate with SAP, he said.

"Often the initial conversation with a manager involved saying the cost benefits of scripting are there but in order to go with a project, you've got to get a number of different pieces," Cmehil said. "It was just far too complicated. A lot of people were having a problem getting the proper versions together"

The scripting community has been growing, Cmehil said. A recent survey shows that out of 37 million domains, 9 million had PHP installed. While most SAP developers are experienced in ABAP and Java, a growing number are learning PHP and other languages, he said.

"With Scripting in a Box, the SAP guy can unpack it to his drive and the PHP guy can unpack it to his drive and they both can try it out for themselves," Cmehil said. "It's an easy way for people in two different worlds to see the same thing together in the same environment."

Book Excerpt: The ABAP Developer's Guide to Java

As the weather heats up, ABAP developers can cool their beans with SearchSAP.com's June feature chapter from SAP PRESS. The ABAP Developer's guide to Java is aimed at correcting the information deficit for ABAP developers facing twin-track developing in a Web Application Server environment.

The ABAP Developer's guide to Java is aimed at correcting the information deficit for ABAP developers facing twin-track developing in a Web Application Server environment. Java is often an unfamiliar arena for the ABAP community, and this book will help bridge that gap. Even experienced developers will appreciate the well-defined path to Java outlined in this book. Chapter six will delve into the application layers in each development language.

 

 

SAP Developer Network spreads NetWeaver message

SAP technology strategist Jeff Word is heading up SAP's Developer Network, an online community that represents SAP's new outlook on life. The company is giving away code samples and Web-based training, and providing a forum for users to swap war stories: the good, the bad and the ugly. SAP programmers are standing by, to offer help and suggestions -- and address complaints about things like documentation almost immediately. Word sat down with SearchSAP.com to tell us why SDN is taking off, and why it took so long to get here.

Why didn't SAP start SDN before now?
Jeff Word: Because for the longest time, SAP has pretty much ignored developers, though not on purpose. It's just that the SAP experts who were out there really were a tight knit group. They really didn't need an online community. They already had kind of an informal community.

What changed that?

Word: NetWeaver. Now we have a Java identity and a.NET identity. We are really combining the traditional SAP guys with the more Web-based, front-end guys. Traditionally, when a Java guy needed to write an application and pull data out of an SAP system, he just kind of threw it over to the SAP guys and said 'Hey, write me an interface for this.' Now that we have a full Java engine inside the SAP Web Application Server, every Java developer is now a SAP developer. They don't have to know all the gory details of SAP. We have really opened up the world to a whole new category of developers.

Is this making your BAPI guys nervous?
Word: No, it's making their life easier. Now they just have to publish a list of the BAPIs for all the Java guys to call from. And the Java guys work in the same environment that the ABAP guys do now. SO the ABAP guys have just offloaded a lot of headaches, basically. Now they can do the job that they want to do -- which is building cool stuff in ABAP.

And SDN is running on NetWeaver?
Word: Yes. It's 100% based on the SAP NetWeaver platform. It's our portal. It's our knowledge management. It's our collaboration. It's our Web application server. NetWeaver is running the whole thing.

How technical do you have to be to use it?
Word: An end user probably wouldn't find much that they would be interested in. But if you are remotely technical, you will. Even business analysts have to know some of the details of NetWeaver, as far as what the portal can do, and they are going to find great stuff here. We have different areas. If you are a developer, then you are going to see very different stuff on portals than if you are a business analyst.

Are the SDN users surprising you with innovations?
Word: Yup. One of the best things is these Web logs. I want to show you one by a guy named Joe Albert. He is the portal architect for Chevron Texaco, obviously a very large SAP customer. He's in charge of an entire portal implementation for, I think, 24,000 employees. He's an ex-ABAP guy. Now he's a NetWeaver guy. One of his best stories was about going live with Employee Self Service.

What happened?

Word: Well, he has rants. Basically, the documentation sucked. That's basically what he said. Now if you are an implementation partner, this is amazing stuff to read. Now you can avoid the same trouble. Even better, all of SAP's people, our product managers, the guys who write the documentation, they read this stuff, too. The product manager for this actually read this the same day that he posted it, and changed the documentation. He incorporated the new stuff within 24 hours.

Once people see this they flip out. Honestly. You can't imagine the reaction. They say 'My God. Thank you. This is the best thing SAP has ever done.'</P

SAP is not known for saying things like 'Chevron had a bit of a nightmare problem -- and now you can all read about it.'
Word: I can only say that's the Shai effect. SAP is opening up in every way possible. Shai's vision for this is that every person in the SAP eco-system will participate in this community and share knowledge. That is the grand vision of NetWeaver