GWPAM Add SAP Service Reference

[Former Member]

In previous blogs I have introduced a feature of GWPAM that generates Outlook Add-ins based on three templates - Contact, Workflow, and Appointment Template.

You might be wondering what to do if you want to create solutions other than Outlook Add-ins. Here GWPAM offers the Add SAP Service Reference features.

When should you use this feature?

You want to create Windows applications, of any type, that leverage SAP NetWeaver Gateway OData Services to display and modify SAP data. You can use it for new or existing Visual Studio projects, but they have to be Visual C# projects. For example, if you create add-ins for Microsoft Office applications, like Word, Excel or PowerPoint, then you can benefit from the Add SAP Service Reference feature.

You can also use it to extend GWPAM-generated Outlook Add-ins by adding Gateway OData Services that are not included in the out-of-the-box GWPAM templates, e.g. adding a custom value help.

What does it actually do?

It adds a number of new objects to your Visual Studio project:

• It adds references to GWPAM assemblies - SAP.IW.GWPAM.Common, SAP.IW.GWPAM.OData.Parser, SAP.IW.GWPAM.SSO. These assemblies contain classes that will help with a variety of tasks, e.g. providing Single Sign On capabilities.
• It generates proxy classes matching the Entity Sets defined in the metadata document of the OData Service.
• BusinessConnectivityHelper Class: This class handles the connectivity and authentication to the OData endpoint.
• App.config: This file contains important configuration settings like the URL of the OData service, the authentication mode and logging settings.
• ADM file: This file can be used to configure your Global Group Policies.
• Logger Class: This class provides an API to log necessary information to the Event Viewer or local file.

Here a sample screenshot of a Windows Forms Application project highlighting objects that have been added by the Add SAP Service Reference feature:

Why should you use this feature?

It helps you to simplify your development right within Visual Studio. You can use the proxy classes to quickly add coding to trigger OData service operations without having to take care of technical specifics like X-CSRF token handling.

You benefit from the enterprise-ready features provided by GWPAM. Out of the box Single Sign On and Connectivity helper classes ensure secure interaction with OData services. The GWPAM Logging feature is integrated with the Proxy Classes. With App.config, ADM file and Global Group Policies you can easily configure your solution and switching from Development to QA to Production environment. Your solution can leverage GWPAM’s integration into Solution Manager for monitoring, end-to-end tracing and supportability.

More Information

Watch this video for a demonstration on how to use the Add SAP Service Reference feature. For more details, please check out this presentation, which is part of our Self-Paced Learning offering for GWPAM.