Custom CDS Views – What’s New in 2002

Last month, I wrote a blog post about why we introduced a new Custom CDS Views app & what it means for the customers that did already use the old app. What I did not mention there is what the differences are in working style, usability & features. So here is a new post on exactly that topic:

What’s new in 2002?

The new app looks very similar to the old app and generally and you will quickly feel familiar with it when you have been working with the old app. Nevertheless, we also changed some things that are worth mentioning as well and that will ease your transition to the new app when you know them in advance.

Overview Page

The overview page does not mix different view types any more. It only lists Custom CDS Views that were created with the app. This is why it will be empty when you start the new app for the first time. To explore other views you can use the View Browser app.

Working Style

Choosing the scenario: When you start working on a Custom CDS view, you will now need to decide upfront what the view is intended for. I guess you always did that unless you were only playing around with the app. With 2002 this is more explicit now and you have to choose the correct scenario upfront.

Note that you can’t change the scenario at a later point in time! This restriction is due to the fact that the scenario defines the rules after which you are working and that guide you along the creation of your view.

Working with drafts: The draft functionality relaxes the way you work. Every step you take is saved automatically. You can leave the app at any point in time without loosing your work. There will always be a saved draft no matter if what you did leads to a functional state of your view or not. There is no save button any more.

Note that you cannot preview your view in any arbitrary state. If you want to preview the result set, the view to be in a consistent state. Pressing the check button will start generating the real CDS view and (if it succeeds) will allow previewing. This is very similar to “Publish” but does in contrary prevent that thew view is already used or that it can be transported. Before being able to check, you have to fulfil some rules like entering a valid view name and so on.

If the check failed, the check result will give you more guidance what you need to do to get your view working. You can access the check result by clicking the check status message.

Save some space on your screen: The header area can now be expanded & collapsed. So if you cannot see the dependencies or the check result: Make sure the header is expanded!

Data Sources

We renamed the “General” tab to “Data Sources”. Apart from adding data sources and defining association conditions (like you were used to in the old app) you can now centrally define for each data source how it’s parameters are bound (if the data sources you are using require parameters).

Another minor improvement is that the association condition allows to use literals and constant values now in addition to fields and parameters.

Parameters

The parameters section itself is more or less unchanged. Nevertheless the way we deal with parameters of associated data sources has changed a bit.

Filters

Up to now you always had to write a formula to apply a filter to your Custom CDS view. With 2002 you can do it in a more convenient, form based way.

What’s Next

The what’s next section is also new in 2002. It guides you specifically for each scenario what you should do next, which apps you need and where to find more information.

Conclusion & Outlook

With the introduction in 2002, the app became more usable in general, but we will continue to further improve and enhance the app. We have lots of improvement ideas in mind already for the next releases. Up next* is the possibility to migrate the Custom CDS Views you created in the old app to the new app.

A lot of feedback that influences our backlog also came from the community through the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Integration Campaign. It is still ongoing, so if you have ideas or requests, you can post them there, browse existing ideas, support and comment on them. Of course you are also welcome to leave your comments & ask questions right here!

As soon as we release the new Custom CDS Views app version, I will post a follow-up “What’s New” blog, Until then, stay tuned & healthy. Thanks for reading 🙂

* Please note that, unfortunately, I cannot make binding statements in regard to the scope of this development and when it will become available.