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Web Dynpro ABAP, BSP and the UIs in between

Level: 201 · working knowledge

Status: stub — for orientation; no worked example is planned.

One line: Between the classic dynpro and Fiori, SAP shipped two browser UI frameworks — Business Server Pages (BSP) and Web Dynpro ABAP (WDA) — and while neither is where new development goes, WDA underlies a great deal of shipped HR, procurement and workflow UI, and the Floorplan Manager (FPM) on top of it is what many "Web GUI" screens actually are.

The lineage

UI Era Model Status
Dynpro (SAP GUI) R/3 screens and flow logic maintained; the transactions
BSP 6.20 server pages, HTML with ABAP legacy; CRM WebClient UI was built on it
Web Dynpro ABAP 7.0 components, views, contexts, MVC maintained, no new features; much of it in use
Floorplan Manager 7.0 EhP configurable WDA applications same
SAPUI5 / Fiori 7.4 OData + JavaScript client current

What a maintainer needs to know

A WDA component has views (layout), a context (a tree of data nodes the UI binds to), controllers (component, view, window, custom), and navigation by plugs. The debugging entry point is the component controller's WDDOINIT; the data is in the context, not in variables; and an enhancement is done with the same enhancement framework as anywhere else. FPM adds configuration on top — a feeder class supplies data, and the layout is customized rather than coded.

Any of it can be run from a browser through the ICF, which is also where a "page not found" is diagnosed (SICF, node inactive).

What this page still needs

  • [ ] a WDA component's structure in one diagram
  • [ ] the FPM feeder-class contract, since that is what gets enhanced
  • [ ] SICF activation, once, with the error it fixes

See also