Technical Articles
Useful Parameters for the SAP Enable Now Web Assistant
Dear Community,
we all know that there are some great and very useful tips and tricks out there – but the main question is usually: How do we find the right information at the right time?
The SAP Enable Now Web Assistant is the perfect tool for showing your users the right information in a contextualized way at exactly the right moment.
But what if the users don’t see the Web Assistant or don’t know how to open it?
In this blog post I want to highlight some parameters and tips and tricks for the Web Assistant that will make it much easier for users to notice and use the in-application help. The parameters are all listed in the Web Assistant Integration Guide on the help portal.
“Here I am” or “Bam!” pop-up
This option is the “in your face” variant that is very effective but has to be used with caution. If you want to display a kind of pop-up banner screaming “USE THE WEB ASSISTANT” then this is the right way to go.
Lightbox with Welcome Message
You can create an animated book page, publish it, and then set up a link tile in the Web Assistant to link to that book page. In the settings for that link tile activate the “Show as Announcement” feature and set the occurrences as needed.
Lightbox Announcement Feature
Tile or App with a hint and explanation
A less intrusive way to tell your users that there is such a thing as Web Assistant is to create a custom tile (in Success Factors) or a custom app which can have a picture and text. Of course the possibilities for customizing differ depending on the target application.
Opening the Web Assistant immediately
In case you have great help content but users have trouble finding it, why not open the Web Assistant immediately when accessing the application?
The parameter openImmediately can be used to automatically open the Web Assistant. There are two possible values:
- openImmediately=full > Opens the large help panel immediately.
- openImmediately=minimized > Opens the help immediately but minimized.
Left: Full Help Panel
Right: Minimized Help Panel
This gives you an option to push the Web Assistant to every user accessing your application. Be aware though, that it can be a bit too much if you have a lot of expert users who might not need to see the help each time they sign in. The minimized version is a good compromise.
Also make sure to consider turning on the close button to give users a chance to close the Web Assistant which was opened automatically. Use the parameter showCloseButton=true. A click on the ? icon will also close the Web Assistant.
What to do in case no help content is available
The Web Assistant has a parameter called noHelpMode which can be used to alter the way it reacts if no content is available for a specific context.
- noHelpMode=hidebutton > Hides the Help button if no content is available.
- noHelpMode=nothing > Shows the Help button without showing the help panel.
- noHelpMode=carousel > Shows the help panel either empty or with Learning App tile.
It makes sense to set noHelpMode=carousel in test and quality environments to let authors click on it and add content but to set it to noHelpMode=hidebutton in production to avoid confusing users by offering an empty help panel.
To stop the Web Assistant from checking for content before the question mark is clicked, you can use the parameter readCatalogue=false.
Used in combination, this will keep the Web Assistant hidden when there is no content and will also not send any requests for content until a user clicks on the question mark icon.
Close SAML window if no authentication is possible
In case you have a selected group of users that should be able to access the SAP Enable Now content, you can use the parameter disableManualLogin=true. This will close the authentication window automatically in case the authentication fails, so that users will not notice that they are not being let through. Setting noHelpMode=carousel is a prerequisite for this.
If a user cannot be authenticated:
- SAP standard content and extended content: Only the SAP standard content is displayed and the extended content is hidden.
- Custom content only: The Help button is hidden and the user cannot access the Web Assistant.
By the way
You can test all the parameters first in your URL before you put them into the configuration. To use a parameter in the URL, you have to add &help- in front of the parameter name. Also make sure that the values added are encoded (for URLs or colors). Do not enter an URL parameter at the end of an URL after the hashtag.
URL parameter sample from the Web Assistant Integration Guide
Hopefully this collection of parameters will help you to set up your Web Assistant as the perfect in-app help for your target application!
Remember to check out the Infocenter chapter on Web Assistant for more detailed information.
Take care,
Kristina
Dear Kristina,
thanks for the tips
I tried to set disableManualLogin=true
But I didn't work
authentication window appears when I try to open web assistant
Did I set parameter correctly?
Hi Dmitry Novikov,
your parameters look fine. Please keep in mind that the disableManualLogin parameter does not keep the login window from opening. It will make it close automatically if no authentication is possible. So the window opens, authentication fails, and the window closes automatically.
If this is not the behaviour you are seeing please reach out to your CEE and we can schedule a call to have a look.
Take care,
Kristina
Hi Kristina, thanks for the tips. But, I'm having an issues with these. Hope you can help me!
I'm using the parameters as readCatalogue=false;openImmediately=minimized;
My goal is to have web-assistant carousel always there, however, always in minimized state. (Just to inform users that there is something to check).
Could you please help me on this? Your thoughts and suggestions. Thanks - Ravi
Hi Ravi,
thanks for your question. Actually, using these two parameters together is contradictory.
readCatalogue=false will stop the Web Assistant from authentication (and opening) unless the ? is clicked.
openImmediately=minimized prompts the Web Assistant to authenticate (and open) directly, even if minimized.
So you're telling the Web Assistant to open and not open at the same time, which can lead to the described mixed results. I'll try to explain:
I would suggest for you to review the readCatalogue=false parameter in the Web Assistant Integration Guide and check if you really need it. If not, I'd remove it.
Hope this helps and take care,
Kristina
Hi Kristina,
Many thanks and really appreciate your reply!
I misinterpreted the operation of readCatalogue=false parameter (intending to keep the ? always and not knowing that it would stop the server request). Now I removed it and retained only openImmediately=minimized and seems partially working now.
I'm saying this partially because, it is working minimized only at launch time after clearing the cache and/or up until I go navigate to a different tile from the homepage (and once I return back to homepage, immediately it is searching for content and opening up the carousel in full) and from then, it is always showing in full mode, even in the next login unless I clear the cache. My question is, if cache keeps opening carousel always in full mode (from previous state), how can I achieve openImmediately=minimized the next time and seems in this way cache nullifying the minimise parameter.
For your point 2, I do not have any announcements on homepage, but I do have couple of link tiles. Also, is there a parameter(s) combination through which I can keep carousel always in minimized state, regardless of content availability. Reason why want this is, I want the carousel to be there without much noise to the users. They can self-serve by checking << and should there be any content.
Thanks - Ravi
Hi Ravi,
ok. I just tested it and it works fine for me - the Web Assistant panel stays minimized.
Please make sure that you are not in the authoring mode (help-editor=false). In the authoring mode, the panel opens up to allow the editing. Maybe this is hindering the minimized toolbar parameter. Please try with a user who doesn't have authoring permission and who is not in editing mode.
The parameter openImmediately=minimized on its own is fine and will do exactly what you require.
If this is not a solution for you, please join the Ask the Expert session or reach out to your CEE to schedule a call.
Take care,
Kristina
Thanks Kristina for your reply and I tested this myself and on another user as well. Both of us in no authoring mode. With openImmediately=minimized, first time it opening in minimized state but once we check some thing on carousel and logout and log back in, it opening in Full mode taking cache into consideration (for our environment). As suggested, raising this issue with CEE. Thanks again for your time and advice. Cheers - Ravi
hi Kristina,
I have a couple of basic doubts about the exact steps to follow when using URL parameters.
In my example, I should set parameter newWindowSAML=true to solve the iFrame authentication problem.
This setting will be always required, so I assume I could just directly configure in my Web Assistant target application (S4/HANA).
My first question is: where do I configure "for good" in this case?
If, on the other hand, it is a matter of first testing the behaviour of the parameter and then decide, my conclusion was that the only position where the parameter is activated is exactly before the hashtag, like in the example hereunder:
https://<YourServer>/fiori?help-newWindowSAML=true#Shell-home
Is my assumption right?
I’ve been searching all the official manuals and the InfoCenter, but unfortunately I could not find a final answer.
Thank you very much for your help,
Marna
Hi Marna,
regarding your first question - yes, you would insert the final configuration in the FLP configuration in the table you mentioned.
If you want to test this first, you can put the parameter in the URL as you wrote above. The position of the parameter depends on the target application URL structure, but for the S/4HANA URL you have it in the right place.
Hope this helps. If not, you can also open an SAP incident with the component MOB-UIA-TUT.
Take care,
Kristina
Hi,
Is there a possibility to show a text announcement without an actual linked webpage?
What does "always show" actually mean in technical terms? Is that for each new login session or should it be every time the screen is loaded? (latter doesn't seem to be the case in my test)
Best regards,
Pieter
Hello Pieter,
Yes, you can use the announcement to show a book page, for example. If you use a link tile, you have to have a target URL for the link. That could also be a text unit in Manager.
Another option would be to use a what's new tile, then you don't need a link, you can just input text. But it will not pop up on the screen like the announcement.
Always show means that the announcement will show up each time the user logs in. We do have an update to the behaviour, namely that the what's new banner will stay put unless you define otherwise.
Take care,
Kristina
Hello,
Is that possible to use the parameter enableTextBasedRecognition=true to display guided tours using text recognition instead of the fiori tile ID?
We are facing an issue with the guided tours. The fiori tile ID is used the as element, and if the same tile is in several fiori catalog the steps are only available for the tile with that specific ID. We don't want to display content based on user profile, but the parameter enableTextBasedRecognition doesn't work.. Do you know how it works?
Regards,
Fabricia
Hi Fabricia,
this is an older parameter which is not used anymore. It allows to disable text-based hotspot
assignments. Text-based recognition is used as a fallback if an object can not be identified by other recognition methods.
false: Supresses text-based object recognition to force language-independent hotspots.
true: Text-based recognition is possible. This is the default option.
Maybe there is another solution for you - why don't you let the first step, which is now linked to the specific tile, float? Without any attachment to an object? Then it will be displayed for all users. You can also put a screenshot of the tile in the text box.
I hope this helps and take care,
Kristina
Hi Kristina,
For exemple the tile I have highlighted exist in various catalog and the data-help-id differs every time. That's why the guided tours displays "no step is available" for some users only.
Tiles
For instance the tile AS03 can have these 2 IDs depending on which catalog it belongs:
X-SAP-UI2-PAGE\%3AX-SAP-UI2-CATALOGPAGE\%3AYCT_EXPERT\%3A00O2TN0CZGOAC595GB53GU2JV_COPY
X-SAP-UI2-PAGE%3AX-SAP-UI2-CATALOGPAGE%3AYCT_COMP_IMMO%3A00O2TN0CZGOAC595GB53GU2JV
If I let the first step float the concerned tile will not be highlighted right? As there is hundreds of tiles it will be difficult for the user to find it.
Thanks,
Fabricia
Hi Fabricia,
thanks for the extended explanation.
Yes, the tile will not be highlighted in this case, correct. And indeed it will be difficult for the user to find it. maybe you can try to find another object, not the whole tile, which allows for a better recognition?
Please reach out to a consultant or to our support if you have further questions, it's hard to fix issues like this in the comments of the blog.
Thanks and take care,
Kristina