SAP BTP SDK for Android 5.1 is now available

The new version of SAP BTP SDK for Android – version 5.1 is now generally available.   You can download the latest SDK version either from the Software Center or the downloads section on develeopers.sap.com.

The SAP BTP SDK for the Android team brings some exciting new features to you with this new release.

In this blog, we will highlight some of the cool features that come with the new upgrade. Please visit our user and API reference documentation to get a detailed overview of all the features released.

Highlights

Wizard

Android Studio & API Level Versions

The SAP BTP SDK for Android 5.1 now supports Android Studio Version 2021.2.1 (Chipmunk) & SDK API Version. 

Signed QR Code Option 

User enablement is one of the most crucial features our users have come to rely upon us. The SDK has now made it easier for developers to onboard end consumers by providing an option to scan a signed QR Code. If your end-user is logged into a web/desktop application, they can scan a QR code seamlessly and securely log in to the native mobile app.

With 5.1, developers can control enabling this option from the Wizard.

Figure 1: Signed QR Code in Wizard

SAP Fiori

Improved Accessibility Support 

The growing adoption of technology has shown how it makes life more accessible. The improvements in this release include enhancing the screen reader functionality, supporting navigation using TalkBack and external keyboards, and addressing text size and color contrast issues.

Figure 2: Before – Enlarged Cell View Text Cutoff	Figure 3: After-Enlarged Cell View Text Adjusted
Figure 4: Before – Enlarged Table View Text Cutoff	Figure 5: After – Enlarged Table View Text Adjusted

Figure 6: Before – Navigation Talk Back Unreachable Element	Figure 7: After-Navigation Talk Back Elements Reachable
Figure 8: Before – Timeline not traversable through Navigation Keyboard	Figure 9: After – Timeline traversable using Navigation Keyboard

Theme Designer 

Enterprises strive to provide a unique and consistent experience to their employees. With the new SDK version, developers using native SDKs can adopt a theme on the fly. With just a few clicks, your mobile application will reflect your organization’s theme without breaking the robust native experience you’ve come to enjoy.

What’s more, if your organization likes to adopt a different theme to celebrate events or if there is a significant rebranding on the horizon, as a developer, you can rest assured that you can embrace the changes in a matter of minutes.

The feature is readily available on devices running Android 11 and above.

Follow https://twitter.com/sapmobile on Twitter for a detailed blog about how you can set it up yourself.

Foundation

Support 3rd Party Bar Code Scanning

Enterprises often use external hardware to scan barcodes for speed and accuracy a phone camera can’t yet provide. The barcode scanning functionality now supports 3rd party hardware laser scanners. Additionally, you can now enable your app to support a physical scanning button with no or very minimum client code change.

Improved Mobile Device Management

• Simplified MDM: The client code can now customize the logic of the parsing bundle string retrieved from MDM into appConfig.
• Fallback Option: If the required MDM keys are not configured, the onboarding flow will request the end user to scan a QR code to retrieve the correct configurations.
• Detecting new configurations: The SDK now enables comparison of existing appConfig and new app Config. In case of a delta, the client code alerts the user of configuration changes and provides an option to update the client.

Feature Summary

This blog highlights features released with the new version of SAP BTP SDK for Android – 5.1. For details, please check the important links section.

• Theme Designer (Customise the theme of your native iOS app on the fly)
• Enhanced Collection View Cell (New SAP Fiori controls)
• 4.0.1 JSON Format Support
• Deep Insert Support (Support multiple backends using different orders of response format)

Important Links

• SAP BTP SDK for Android 5.1 Download (Software Center)
• Documentation
• API Reference

Acknowledgment

To the spectacular team that worked tirelessly, from conceptualizing the improvements to defining, designing, and eventually building them.

Follow the SAP BTP SDK for Android tag for the latest information. Let us know what you think about the blog in the comments.