SAP GUI for Java 7.80

Hello SAP GUI for Java users,

For more than a decade, the only CPU platform for running SAP GUI for Java has been Intel. Native support for Intel 64-bit started back in 2009 with SAP GUI for Java 7.20, the support for Intel 32-bit ended with SAP GUI for Java 7.50 reaching EOL in September 2021.

With the increasing popularity of ARM CPUs in mobile and now even desktop devices, it is time to bring SAP GUI for Java to a new CPU platform. 

Native support for Apple silicon

SAP GUI for Java 7.80 natively supports macOS on Apple silicon. While it feels only slightly faster than running the Intel version using Rosetta2, the CPU usage and as a result the power or battery consumption is significantly reduced.

With this, SAP GUI for Java also is prepared for the day, Apple will remove Rosetta2 from the OS like done before with the compatibility layer for PowerPC after the switch to Intel CPUs.

OpenJDK 17

The Java runtime and OpenJFX framework used in SAP GUI for Java 7.80 are updated to SapMachine 17 and OpenJDK 17. This is the latest LTS release of Java, which replaces OpenJDK 11 and includes the new port of the Java platform to macOS arm64.

JDK version and hardware platform

Besides new platforms and runtime versions, there are also some new features (still subject to change).

Themes

There are no new themes, but now it is possible to switch live between Quartz Light and Quartz Dark. Also on macOS, the Quartz Light and Dark themes can be set to automatically adjust to the current system appearance as an option. If activated, the Quartz theme fitting to the current active OS appearance is used on startup, and once the macOS appearance changes during runtime, the theme is switched accordingly.

Quartz theme automatically in sync with the macOS appearance

Visual and audible resources

• The dialog to show the version information has been redesigned.
• New application and installer icons are used.
• A variety of sound schemes has been added for audio feedback.

Keyboard navigation

Various details in keyboard navigation have been improved, in particular related to the accessibility mode.

Rendering

For the newer themes, all code for drawing controls still using bitmap resources has been changed to use drawing algorithms. This improves rendering quality on high DPI screens and is a prerequisite for custom theming in a future release.

Controls

• Choosing a value by typing from a dropdown listbox in grid control has been implemented.
• For cells with radiobuttons and checkboxes in grid control, a hover effect has been added.
• The combobox control now supports showing the keys and sorting by keys similar to its dynpro based counterpart.

Discontinued Features

• The Belize theme has been removed.

The release of SAP GUI for Java 7.80 is planned for September 2022.

As outlined in the other post, there is a beta program for early adopters.

Best regards,
Rolf-Martin Wörsinger
Product Owner SAP GUI for Java