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Developing Flex Applications that Invoke SAP Services

You can now develop your favorite Flex based client application that consumes SAP services. SAP has provided an Eclipse plug-in that generates ActionScript proxy classes for the invocation of a Web service represented by a WSDL file.  This plug-in will generate classes that represent data types, operations, ports and services as defined in the WSDL file. The Eclipse plug-in can be deployed into Adobe Flex Builder, SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, or any other Eclipse-based IDE.

To get started, download the plug in by clicking here and then download the documentation, which is available as two separate documents. The first document, called “Connecting SAP Enterprise Services with Flex Controls” gives an in-depth overview of the technology. The second document, titles “How to Develop Flex Applications that Invoke Web Services“, is a how-to guide to help you in step by step fashion to build your first application. please note that this plug in is provided as is, on a trial basis only.

The basic features of the plug-in are summarized below:

Feature Flex Out of the Box With SAP Plugin
Web service method calls x x
Action Script proxy generation   x
Support for simple WS structures   x
Support for complex WS structures   x
Flex UI generation based on WS definition   x
SAP NetWeaver Eclipse based IDE integration   x
Javadoc-like generated documentation for the generated proxy classes   x

This Eclipse plug-in will also allow you to generate MXML screens (i.e. data forms) to represent input arguments and output results for each operation defined by the selected WSDL file. These forms can be used to execute Web service calls right away, without extra coding, and can also be used by the developer as a starting point for further polishing, mending and composing them into a finished application.

The plug-in also generates Javadoc-like documentation for generated classes that represent operations and data types defined by the selected Web service. This documentation is orders of magnitude more convenient to use for a developer than digging into raw WSDL file.

Finally, the plug in also generates a runtime for binding screen elements to data structures. This runtime glues to the generated screens and allows interactive creation and editing of complex nested data structures as well as interactive browsing of such structures without a developer having to write a single line of code for that. Generated screens also include pre-cooked code for the invocation of Web services when the “Execute” button is clicked. Whenever a response from a Web service is received, the pre-cooked code in the screen automatically displays the output screen in the application window and displays received response data within this screen. This code can be overwritten by developers according to specific needs.

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      18 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member
      Hi Axel:

      Pretty cool! Thanks -:) I have already downloaded both the plug-in and the documentation. Can't wait to start playing with it -:D

      Greetings,

      Blag.

      Author's profile photo Durairaj Athavan Raja
      Durairaj Athavan Raja
      Cool. and UI generation part is interesting.

      Would you mind adding this blog link to RIA blog catalog at New RIA Blog

      Raja

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member
      Done Raja -;)

      Greetings,

      Blag.

      Author's profile photo Durairaj Athavan Raja
      Durairaj Athavan Raja
      Thanks Blag.
      Author's profile photo Durairaj Athavan Raja
      Durairaj Athavan Raja
      the link for "Connecting SAP Enterprise Services with Flex Controls" document leading to a wrong location. could you fix it pls.

      Regards
      Raja

      Author's profile photo Durairaj Athavan Raja
      Durairaj Athavan Raja
      I tried with BW query webservice and it works great.

      Thanks for this

      Regards
      Raja

      Author's profile photo Pablo Casamayor
      Pablo Casamayor
      Hi,
      when i tried to download the link:
      Connecting SAP Enterprise Services with Flex Controls
      i got this message:
      Internal Server Error

      The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

      Please send email to sdn@sap.com and describe which URL(s) you were trying to access or what activity you were trying to complete on the site... any details that may be helpful will be appreciated. We'll try to correct the problem as soon as possible and we apologize for the inconvenience!

      i did as suggested here and this is the reply i got:

      SDN a usuario
           
      mostrar detalles 15-ene (1 día antes)
      Hello,

      You should make a comment to the weblog and let the author know that the link he provided does not work.

      Kind Regards,
      David Branan
      SAP Network Team
      https://www.sdn.sap.com

      Technical Information:
      ----------------------
      Case Id: 2200892
      Origin Sender: casamayorp@gmail.com

      if this is the case why not changing SDN message for a new one adressing us to the author of the blog?

      Best regards

      Author's profile photo Durairaj Athavan Raja
      Durairaj Athavan Raja
      Hi ,

      Download the document "How to Develop Flex Applications that Invoke Web Services". In this document at the end you have the correct link for Connecting SAP Enterprise Services with Flex Controls

      Raja 

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member
      I fixed the broken link, not sure how this happened. Please try again.
      Author's profile photo Faaiez Sallie
      Faaiez Sallie
      Firstly I would like to thank you for the blog and the detailed pdf document. I decided to try installing the flex plugin into SAP developer studio. I used SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio
      SAP NetWeaver 7.1 Composition Environment SP01
      Build id: 200705231918.

      When I reached step 2 in "Getting Started: Creating Your First Project" I got an error. The error was as follows:
      "A problem occurred when opening this project. Try quitting and restarting the application. If this problem persists, you may be using an unsupported project version or your project files may be corrupt"

      After I clode this error the following error is displayed in the problems section:
      "The project properties files could not be read."

      Thanks

      Faaiez

      Author's profile photo Faaiez Sallie
      Faaiez Sallie
      Ok, I've managed to get passed this error by first creating a 'Flex Library Project' named runtime and then only importing the 'com' folder with all it's subfolders. This seems to work. I then carried on but I am now stuck at step 5 - Build actionscript proxies. The errors I get is as follows:

      1120: Access of undefined property SAPLog.     proxies/sap/theme/standard/skin     SAPGraphChildrenButtonSkin.as     line 57     1201505011870     23
      1172: Definition sap.chart.graph:GraphChildrenButton could not be found.     proxies/sap/theme/standard/skin     SAPGraphChildrenButtonSkin.as     line 5     1201505011870     25
      1172: Definition sap.utils:SAPLog could not be found.     proxies/sap/theme/standard/skin     SAPGraphChildrenButtonSkin.as     line 4     1201505011870     24

      As far as I can tell the problem is with the import statements:

      import sap.utils.SAPLog;
      import sap.chart.graph.GraphChildrenButton;

      There are no subdirectories sap.utils or sap.chart?

      Please assist...

      Regards

      Faaiez

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member
      Hi Faaiez,
      I am also getting the same error.
      Please tell me if you able to solve this error.

      Regards,
      Ami

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member
      Hallo,

      works the Add-in only for RFC´s or also for WebServices ;-))
      I tested it for a Web service and received Java error messages.
      The WSDL in the document "Connection SAP Enterprise Services with Flex Controls" is a RFC-WSDL and not a WebService-WSDL.
      Please clear me up, if I wrongly understood it.
      Thanks

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member
      Hi,

      sorry, but I have to give more information:
      The SAP Add-in works also for WebService and RFC´s.
      But we have upgraded to SAP_ABA     to SP14, SAP_BASIS to SP14 and SAP_BW to SP16. After that, the new generated WebServices are not working with the SAP Add-in.
      I can use the Add-in for a RFC, but not a WebService of the function module.
      I hope, this helps to solve my problem
      Thanks a lot
      Goekhan

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member
      I have installed the actionscript proxygen plugin in both a vanilla Eclipse environment and a NetWeaver Composer environment.  Unfortunately, I'm unsure how to invoke the plug-in -- I couldn't figure out how to do it from the docs.  Any assistance getting started would be most appreciated.  Thank you in advance.
      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member
      Please disregard my first post.  I did not realize there was a second step-by-step document that explained how to use the plug-in.  I've downloaded the document now and will attempt to set up the HTTP proxy server as described in it.  If I still run into problems, I will post back here.  Thanks.
      Author's profile photo Guillaume GARCIA
      Guillaume GARCIA
      Hi Axel,

      Do you have - by any chance - updated your plug-in for Flex 3.0 ?

      Thanks in advance.

      Best regards,
      Guillaume

      Author's profile photo Guillaume GARCIA
      Guillaume GARCIA
      Hi,

      Would it be possible to get the source code?
      Which license would apply?

      I have seen several WSDL to ActionScript Proxy generator on the Web
      - first of all, Flex Builder 3 is able to do it 😉
      - FleXtense 2.0
      - WebOrb
      but none provides MXML default screen generation as you do...

      That is why I would like to know if there is any way to find out how this can be done.

      Thanks in advance for your answer.

      Best regards,
      Guillaume