With the release of ABAP Development Tools 2.13, comes an enhanced development environment for Web Dynpro ABAP. We have added many features to improve productivity for you. This document will take you through a tour of the major features added.

Some of the features depends on specific backend and i have specified backend in their title. They will be also marked as following:

• 740 SP3 : Works with 740 SP3 and onwards
• 731 SP7: Works with 731 SP7 only

If not flagged with above markers, the feature is backend Independent, i.e. It works with all backends where Web Dynpro ABAP is supported i.e. 731 SP7 and 740 SP2+.

Web Dynpro Code Templates

You can now use Web Dynpro code templates from eclipse itself. Following Web Dynpro Code Templates are now available by default:

• Instantiate Used Component,
• Fire Plug,
• Calling Message using Message Manager,
• Personalization,
• Portal Integration,
• Raise Controller Event

User can also define their code templates. Refer to this blog to see how you can define your own templates and use them later: Web Dynpro ABAP Code Templates in ABAP Development Tools (ver 2.7)

Enabling more forward navigation:

• Navigation in Context page of Controller Editor

  • In Context Editor, select a mapped Context in left tree and press F3 to show mapping
  • In Context Editor, select a Context node or Context Attribute in the right tree and F3 to open the respective Controller editor with Context Node or Context Attribute highlighted.

• Navigate to Event for Event Handlers

You can select event handlers and click on the hyperlink of bound event to navigate to editor where event is defined

• F3 Navigation in Method for dirty controller (unsaved controller):

If you create a new method in a Controller which is unsaved and trigger navigation, the navigation will happen to correct the location in implementation page.

• Navigation from UI Element to Context Node:

You can select a property bound to UI element and navigate to bound context node\attribute. If UI element property is bound to context node\attribute, now a “Go” is available which will trigger navigation to place where context node\attribute is defined

• Navigation from Declaration to Implementation page:

In Declarations page for Controller Editor: Select a Method, Supply Function or Event Handler and press F3 to trigger the navigation to the location in implementation page, where implementation code is specified.

Usability Enhancements in Context Editor

• Easily change name of Context Node or Context Attribute:

          You can just press F2 on a Context Node or Context Attribute in left context tree to trigger an inline rename dialog. Hence, you can avoid navigation to properties to change the name.

• Sorting of Context Hierarchy:

          The context hierarchy is sorted now. First level of sorting is done as Context Recursion Node -> Context Node -> Context Attribute and then second level sorting happen alphabetically. For Context Node bound to DDIC structure, the order is preserved. If the user changes the ordering in dictionary Element he can re-do the binding to have order same as in context structure.

• Creation of Sibling Context Attribute:

          When user creates a context attribute, the the newly created context attribute is selected. Now, even for this action “Add Context Attribute” is enabled and hence user can create the sibling.

Selecting images easily for View Designing (740 SP3):

              You can select image from following SAP library collection categories using eclipse and use them in your views. When they select an image, preview of images is also shown to help them select an image.

          This new dialog is available for 740 SP3+ backend but for older backend simple dialog is available where no preview of image is shown.

Formatting Implementation code (740 SP3)

          Format Block and Format All option are now enabled in Implementation Page. It works in ABAP Class Editor. The settings for formatting can be done from the preferences.

Improvements in Floor Plan Manager Integration (740 SP3)

Developers can launch following from Project Explorer:

• FPM Applications
• FPM Application Configurations

To launch: Select the above entity in Project Explorer and use option Run AsàWeb Dynpro ABAP Application.

Usability improvements in View Editor

• Layout and Layout data are displayed in respective tabs:

          Layout and Layout Data property were part of “UI Element” tab but their setting were part of Layout and Layout Data tab respectively. Now, Layout property is part of Layout tab and Layout Data is part of Layout Data tab.

• No Login Screen in View Designer Preview:

           When you start View Designer, you will not be asked to enter username password anymore. The credentials used to login to ABAP Project is re-used for authentication.

• Do mass editing for UI Element binding to Context:

           User can trigger this dialog using “Edit Context Binding” context menu action on any UI element in View Editor Outline. The dialogs user to:

• Create or delete Bindings
• Filter in right or left tree to find relevant nodes faster,
• Filter to show only bund nodes, Filter to show mandatory properties.
• Drag and Drop from left or right direction or right to left direction to create mapping

• Automatic creation of Labels:

          When user create UI element, labels are created for them automatically with LabelFor property for Label set to the UI element. This is done for selected UI Element e.g. InputField, TextView, FormattedTextView etc.

• Displaying binding type:

          Earlier, in properties view for UI elements, it was not easy for user to see if the binding is of type “DDIC”,”MIME”, “OTR” or “CONTEXT”. Now, the property has relevant icon which enables user to know it very easily.

General Usability Improvements in Controller Editor

• Use filter in properties view for Context or UI Element:

           In properties view if the list of properties is long, you can use filter to filter the list by name of property. You can type filter text and when you select another object in editor, it will keep the filter criteria and hence you can set same property value for different object faster and focused way.

• Navigation History of the editors:

Now you quickly navigate forward and backward between editors. You don’t need to remember the flow and let the eclipse remember it for you.

• Typing instead of using Dialog:

         Developers can now type following directly as a text in input fields instead of using dialogs. This is implemented from the feedback we got from WDAIE CEI and internal developers, and gives more speed to the development.

• Type for parameters in Methods, Event handlers etc.
• Exceptions in Methods
• Type for Context attribute
• Dictionary Structure for Context Node

• Outline View for Controller Editors:

           View Editor, Component Controller Editor and Customer Controller editor have now outline view available. Selection in the Outline view enables the select in the Editor and hence can be used for quick navigation inside the editors.

• Highlight occurrences of variables (740 SP3):