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annettebraun
Explorer
The latest version of SAP Fiori launchpad in ABAP Platform with SAP_UI 7.57 has been released on 12th October. This blogpost by thomas.reiss does a great job listing and describing all the new features and functions in SAP S/4HANA 2022. Check it out to get a full overview! 

I want to focus specifically on new features and functions for SAP Fiori launchpad administrators. Let’s look at the recent updates we’ve delivered with this feature pack.

This post covers: 

  • Adaptation mode in the SAP Fiori launchpad app manager 

  • Enhancements in the Manage Launchpad Content for Exposure tool 

  • Enhancements in the SAP Fiori launchpad content manager 

  • Optimized replication process in an embedded scenario 


Adaptation mode in the SAP Fiori launchpad app manager 


You probably know our best practices when it comes to setting up launchpad content as an administrator: We recommend using our SAP-delivered technical catalogs as templates, copy their content to a custom technical catalog, and adjust them to your needs. Copying the content to a custom catalog is necessary when you want to adjust the content because SAP-delivered technical catalogs are read-only. 

With the new adaptation mode in the SAP Fiori launchpad app manager, administrators can directly adapt SAP-delivered technical catalogs: Common adjustments such as changing the title, description, or the device type can now be changed without copying the launchpad content to your custom catalog first.

Here’s how you switch to the adaptation mode: 


Figure 1: Switch to adaptation mode in the SAP Fiori launchpad app manager


When you’re in the technical catalog, scroll down to the Adaptation tab to get a list of launchpad app descriptor items that you can adapt: 


Figure 2: Adaptation tab in the technical catalog


You can adapt target application fields like the target application title, target mapping information, and the device type (desktop, tablet, phone), as well as tile fields such as the tile title, the tile subtitle, tile keywords, tile information, and the refresh interval in seconds. 


Figure 3: Adapt fields in the Adaptation tab


For more information, see Adapting Launchpad App Descriptor Items | SAP Help Portal. The adaptation layer was also integrated into our best practices on how to manage launchpad content. You can find it here: Advanced Scenario - Adapt SAP Template Content and Add Your Own Content | SAP Help Portal.

Enhancements in the Manage Launchpad Content for Exposure tool


1. Bundle roles for the exposure in content areas 


To make the handling of exposing roles easier, administrators can now create content areas and bundle several roles. This way the administrator has a better overview of roles that they want to expose and is not distracted by any other actions of other administrators (you’re probably not the only one who is working with the tool). You can define the areas yourself, e.g., you create an area with the name Sales and add roles that are relevant for the area. 

So how exactly does it work? Here’s a short video on how to create a content area in transaction /UI2/CDM3_EXP_SCOPE:



 

Video 1: Maintain and view content areas in the Manage Launchpad Content for Exposure tool


For more information, see Maintain and View Areas for the Content Exposure | SAP Help Portal 

2. New exposure settings available 


With the new release, we have introduced a couple of new launchpad settings that are related to content exposure. 

  • EXPOSURE_HOMEPAGE_STRUCTURE allows you to define which home page structures should be exposed. You can decide between groups, spaces and pages, or both.

  • EXPOSURE_REPOSITORY_EXPIRATION_DAYS lets you specify after how many days unused content stored in the exposure repository should be automatically removed. 

  • With EXPOSURE_LOG_LEVEL administrators can define which log messages should be displayed. You can, for example, only display the log messages from entities that couldn't be exposed.


Enhancements in the SAP Fiori launchpad content manager 


1. Where-used check for tiles in pages 


With the release SAP S/4HANA 2021 FPS01, we introduced where-used checks for tiles in groups. Now this functionality is also available to check your tile and target mapping assignments in pages. 

In the SAP Fiori launchpad content manager, administrators can check to which page a tile or target mapping was assigned. This makes content handling and navigating easier, because you can immediately check tile and target mapping assignments and jump into the Manage Launchpad Pages app to make any adjustments if needed. 

The where-used check is also automatically performed when deleting a tile or target mapping in a business catalog because referenced tiles or target mappings cannot be deleted. 


Figure 4: Where-used check in the SAP Fiori launchpad content manager


In the SAP Fiori launchpad content manager, go to the Catalogs tab and make sure that Show Catalog Content is active. In the lower window, choose Display Usages in Pages to see the pages in which the selected tile or target mapping is assigned. A new pop-up window shows you the relevant pages. There, you can navigate to the Manage Launchpad Pages app and see the type of reference of the tile or target mapping


Figure 5: Pop-up window when you click on Display Usage in Pages



2. Assign catalogs to roles


Another new functionality is that you can now assign or remove catalogs to or from roles. In the past, you had to launch transaction PFCG and add or remove catalogs to a specific role. Now you can easily manage this in the SAP Fiori launchpad content manager.  

You can assign roles in the Catalogs tab of the launchpad content manager. Make sure that Show Usage in Roles is active.


Figure 6: Assign catalogs to a role in the SAP Fiori launchpad content manager



Optimized replication process in an embedded scenario


To make use of launchpad app descriptor items that have been created in the back end, you must replicate them to the front-end server. Only then, you can see them in the design-time tools and make references to them. This replication step is necessary for both standalone (hub) scenarios and embedded scenarios.  

In an embedded scenario, however, the replication process has been optimized. Before that, a WDCC object was created as a copy on the front-end server and in case of changes to the original technical catalogs, the replication had to be triggered subsequently.  

Now, during the replication step in an embedded scenario, the data of the technical catalogs is directly read from the original technical catalog. As a result, no copy is created anymore and no subsequent replications are needed after the initial replication has been triggered.

See Setting Up the Replication of Back-End Catalogs | SAP Help Portal for more.

Further information


To find out more information on SAP Fiori or related topics, check out these blog posts:

General information on SAP Fiori launchpad


This is not all that SAP Fiori Launchpad in ABAP Platform 2022 has to offer. Please check out our updated What’s New for more features and details.

Find more on the community topic page for SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA or ask a question related to SAP Fiori. 

For information about SAP Fiori launchpad, see our product page on the SAP Help Portal or directly jump into our documentation. Looking forward to your feedback!