Technical Articles
Using Mobile Transaction Bridge to create a mobile app based on transaction IW41
I work for a Consultancy and am trying to keep up with all of SAP’s recent offering in BTP.
In this blog post, I will take you through the steps I took to create a Mobile Transaction Bridge Recording based on SAPGUI transaction IW41 in an On-Premise system. MTB is part of the Business Technology Platform (BTP), Mobile Services offering. I will also cover some design recommendations and a few current problems that encountered along the way.
MTB is being offered as a Key User Tool to develop mobile apps based on SAPGUI transactions. It covers similar ground to Personas and Slipstream however development uses completely different technology in BTP.
I have many years of Personas/Slipstream experience and was intrigued to learn more about MTB and compare the two options.
Introduction to SAP Mobile Transaction Bridge
SAP Mobile Transaction Bridge functionality contains a Recording (design) and a Run (consume) stage. Creation of an MTB App involves the recording of any SAPGUI transaction, selecting which Fields are Input or Output in a succession of Sequences, then joining these Sequences together using a graphical modelling tool.
Once the App is published, an OData service is generated.
A Mobile App is then created with the Mobile Transaction Bridge Odata Feature linking to the OData Service, and a Mobile Connectivity Feature pointing to the SAP Backend system (on premise or in the Cloud).
BAS can be used to create a Mobile App linking to the Mobile Services App using the supplied template.
Users download SAP Mobile Services Client to their phones from the App store, and can be sent a URL or a QR code to open the mobile app.
This tutorial shows the basic set up of Mobile Transaction Bridge. https://developers.sap.com/group.cp-mobile-mtb-odata.html
Access SAP BAS Mobile Services
I won’t go into the details of how to create a Trial account if you don’t have one, as there are plenty of articles about that out there.
Open your BTP Space and select Mobile Services.
Create a Mobile Services Instance, selecting the appropriate Service Plan:
And Press ‘Open’.
Before going further, we need to make sure the Backend system is fit for purpose.
There are some pre-requisites that need to be fulfilled as described in the following notes:
https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2853735
A new webgui SICF Service is required that will be used by MTB to trigger the SAPGUI Transactions as described below
Create a new service with additional parameters, as in
https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2873312
https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2944771
Creating the Destination in Cloud Foundry
Configuring the system in MTB
In Mobile Services, go to Mobile Transaction Bridge and select Back-End systems
This points to the new SICF service configured earlier and allows Recordings of this destination.
You can define more than one system.
Recording a Transaction
Click on Recordings, then Recorder. If you have more than one Destination configured, you need to select the relevant one. I am using a Trial Account and can only have 2 Recordings at any one time.
There is more documentation in SAP Mobile Services Documentation in section ‘Mobile Transaction Bridge’ at https://help.sap.com/doc/f53c64b93e5140918d676b927a3cd65b/Cloud/en-US/docs-en/guides/getting-started/mtb/introduction.html
In this example, I want to simplify the process of entering Actual Time against a Work Order Operation.
MTB Recordings are made up of Sequences, and each Sequence is made up of Steps. Once the Sequences are recorded, they can be connected using a visual UI tool called Application Designer. Initially I was going to record the whole process, of finding a Work Order, selecting an Operation, and then entering Time values, but advice came from SAP that it is better to create Sequences of ‘Find Order’, ‘Open Order Details’, and ‘Update Order’ and connect them using the Application Designer. I will go through this example here.
Pressing a Button in the dialog screen creates a new Step, and Input and Output fields are defined by clicking on the Configure area at the top of the screen.
Ensure the correct search help is defaulted and registered by clicking on a different search help to the one you want to use, then clicking back to it.
By clicking on a Field, a new screen appears on the left where you can configure it as an Input field, and make it mandatory, or an output field.
We will connect the output from this Sequence to the Input of another later.
Then Click on Configure again, enter a valid Order number, and click the Enter button to proceed to the next screen.
Click on Configure again in the next screen to define the output on the next Mobile app screen,
I have the fields required for the update.
Click Configure and make the Order Input field mandatory and press Add.
Select a Line (Recording use the Row Index, the user will be able to select from the Tabstrip).
Then Click Configure again then click SAVE. Then STOP Recording.
Testing the Recording
Application Designer
Now to connect these Sequences.
Then draw a line from the output table ListofOrders to the List Input of the List Item Action.
Now we Add another Sequence based on the Update Order Sequence (right click in space, Add Node, Sequences) and again a List Item Action coming from our Line Item selection screen.
NB The RowIndex is always compatible even if the user pages down on their phone.
Publish the App
Once you have tested the OData services and linked them as above, you are ready to Publish the Recording and build the Mobile App. Note that the SAP documentation mentions the ability to Preview the App on the right-hand side of the screen, however this is still under development by SAP. I did see a prototype which looked very useful.
This makes the ODdata service available for consumption. Details of which can be found in the Runtime section of this document https://help.sap.com/doc/f53c64b93e5140918d676b927a3cd65b/Cloud/en-US/docs-en/guides/getting-started/mtb/runtime.html
NB Currently I have been advised that there is a bug in the BAS Template when creating MTB Apps, but that it will be fixed in the next few releases. The other available options described are SAP BTP SDK for Android and iOS, and WEBIDE.
Conclusion
As a summary, in this blog post we introduce a way of recording SAPGUI transactions and creating an OData service. This Service enables the user to select screen fields as input and output from the screens and record Button clicks. These Sequences can be tested individually before publishing the Recording and going through the full cycle of creating an App for test purposes. They can then be linked together in an easy way to create an MTB Recording using a Graphical Interface. The Recording can then be used in a SAP Mobile App.
This is still very new, and there are a few enhancements planned to make it even easier to use, such as showing the Success/Failure after pressing SAVE, allowing the sequence of Fields displayed to be changed, and Preview functionality while in the Application Designer. Offline data capability is also being considered.
The performance of the MTB App compared to a Screen Personas/Slipstream App is a lot faster, and the handling of TabStrip controls is better. MTB would be an ideal choice for developing Mobile Apps based on SAPGUI transactions, and even better in a few more releases. I’m not sure if it is a Tool for a Key User, but that is the same for Personas.
SAP Personas/Slipstream comes free with recent Releases of SAP, however I see that Fiori Client is being taken out of service early next year which might have an impact on the comparison. There is a small charge for BTP and Mobile Services in the Cloud.
Overall it shows a great deal of promise in bring SAPGUI transactions into the modern mobile world.
Hi Neil,
It is very nice to see the whole picture now!
Thanks for sharing all the steps in your blog.
Cheers,
Cris
Thanks Cris, and thanks for your help.