Business Trends
Microsoft Edge in SAP Business Client
The rise of Edge, a sunset for CEF Chromium in new releases
This blog post highlights the end of support for the Chromium browser control option in the next SAP Business Client release and the recommended option and activities for our customers.
What?
With release 7.70, SAP Business Client offers the choice between three browser controls for embedding web-based applications:
- Internet Explorer based on the IE web browser control
- Chromium based on the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) which embeds Chromium core as web browser engine
- Edge based on Microsoft’s WebView2 control which also embeds Chromium core
Settings – Choose your Primary Browser Control
With the next SAP Business Client release 8.0 planned for Q1/2023, SAP intends to restrict the browser control options to Internet Explorer and Edge*.
The Chromium option based on the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) will be supported together with SAP Business Client 7.70 until 02.04.2024.
*Even though Microsoft announced the de-support for Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer Control will remain to be supported and working, see note 3090354
Why?
Both controls, Edge and Chromium (CEF) are based on standard Chromium core. However, there are differences how the controls are delivered, installed and patched:
For Chromium, the full browser control is delivered and can be installed with SAP Business Client (installation package Chromium for SAP Business Client 7.70). Security corrections for this browser control are shipped with SAP Business Client patches, so distributing security updates means installing an up-to-date Business Client patch (see SAP Security Note 2622660).
The Edge control depends on the Microsoft WebView2 runtime which is not shipped with the SAP Business Client. Starting with Windows 11, the runtime is already part of the operating system; before, you have to download it from Microsoft and install it separately for the first time. Updates and security corrections for the WebView2 runtime are delivered by Microsoft via Microsoft Update. They are therefore independent of SAP Business Client patches and can be received automatically.
See also SAP Business Client for Desktop Installation – SAP Help Portal for installation specifics.
Using the Microsoft Edge Web View2 control has the following benefits:
- improved security
- easy maintenance
- good quality and performance
- a future-proof solution
On top, you can take advantage of the Dynamic Browser Selection feature to use the Internet Explorer browser control simultaneously for web applications which rely on IE e.g. due to its support of ActiveX content.
See more:
Using SAP Business Client with Dynamic Browser Control Selection – SAP Help Portal
See also:
Recommended Actions
- Switch to the Edge browser control in time. You are able to use it as of SAP Business Client 7.70.
- Test your scenarios and let us know if you encounter a gap or problem so we can address it in a timely manner.
Recommended Actions regarding Internet Explorer please have a look at the following blog by Thorsten Dencker
Internet Explorer 11 will no longer be supported by various SAP UI technologies in newer releases
Thanks. I was intrigued about the meaning of "cef chromium". Is it "Chomium embedded framework"? chromiumembedded/cef: Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) official mirror. A simple framework for embedding Chromium-based browsers in other applications. (github.com)
Thanks for your comment and yes it is 🙂
https://blogs.sap.com/2018/01/25/sap-business-client-6.5-pl5-released/
Very good post, thank you.
I am interested in the issue of using the control for automated work, i.e. the use of its so-called bots. Are there any contraindications not to use it for this purpose? What does the memory of the control / program that uses it look like after a few / several hours of continuous work? Then there are memory leaks?
Hi Terri,
I am not quite sure what you want to achieve, but please have a look at the following documentation:
https://help.sap.com/viewer/f526c7c14c074e7b9d18c4fd0c88c593/7.70.09/en-US/807caad5888c4263ac55c6126f886505.html?q=RDP
Kind Regards,
Sandra
I have set Edge in browser control in my SAP Logon 770 but when I click on display facsimile in PR05 its still getting accessed via IE. How can I change it to Edge or Chrome?
Hi Savio,
please open a support incident ticket directly for the application.
Regards,
Sandra
Thanks Sandra for the post.
However do you face any problem on the webdynpro UI element position in the view? One element in my view locate to left side with IE, but locate to center if I switch to Edge browser, will it because the server version is not fit with the popular browser nowadays and this shall be a point to consider when switching nwbc browser?
Hi Shuxia - Fox Chen,
the Unified Rendering Version could cause the issue - but without an suppport incident and the traces it's only guessing.
You could try to update your current UR-Version to the latest possible version. The upgrade process depends on your NetWeaver Release.
The following note describes how to check the UR-Version: https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2936178
and for an update please check: https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2499004
If the issue still persists, create an incident on the following component and information:
Regards,
Sandra
Thanks Sandra, I find there is sap note for my issue, the issue was in the webdynpro layout design, browser looks behave differently at the runtime, but it could be fixed by code.
However, I have another question comes from my user, who has Edge installed but no option for it in his NWBC primary browser setting, but only the IE and Chrome. Is it something missing in the config file? Any suggestion?
Thank you in advance.
In case you want to use the Microsoft Edge browser control based on Chromium within SAP Business Client, you need to install Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime as prerequisite. If the WebView2 runtime is not installed, the Edge browser option will not show up.
See the blog above for details and how and when to install the WebView2 runtime.
Hope this solves your user's problem.
Claudia
Forgot the post details after long time, thank you Claudia for highlight it again 🙂
Forgot the post details after certain time, Thanks Claudia to highlight it again 🙂