abap2UI5

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Smart Controls ​

Smart controls from the sap.ui.comp library (SmartFilterBar, SmartTable, SmartForm, SmartField, SmartChart) build their UI from OData V2 metadata — combined with variant management, they give you a full list report without hand-built columns or filters.

SAPUI5 only

The sap.ui.comp library ships with SAPUI5 but not with OpenUI5 — apps using smart controls require a SAPUI5 bootstrap. See UI5 Bootstrapping.

Declaring the Namespaces ​

Smart controls live in their own sap.ui.comp sub-namespaces, so each one you use needs its xmlns on the root View — exactly as in a hand-written UI5 view. The three below cover a list report:

abap
    DATA(view) = z2ui5_cl_ui5_view_builder=>factory(
        )->ele( n = `View` ns = `mvc`
            )->a( n = `xmlns`                        v = `sap.m`
            )->a( n = `xmlns:mvc`                    v = `sap.ui.core.mvc`
            )->a( n = `xmlns:smartFilterBar`         v = `sap.ui.comp.smartfilterbar`
            )->a( n = `xmlns:smartTable`             v = `sap.ui.comp.smarttable`
            )->a( n = `xmlns:smartVariantManagement` v = `sap.ui.comp.smartvariants` ).

smartform, smartfield, smartchart and navpopover are declared the same way. Since smart controls are metadata-driven, the app usually carries no ABAP data at all — it switches the default model to an OData service instead (see OData):

abap
client->view_display( val                       = view->stringify( )
                      switch_default_model_path = `/sap/opu/odata/IWBEP/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/` ).

Page Variant ​

A page variant is one SmartVariantManagement that owns the persistency for the whole page; SmartFilterBar and SmartTable register with it through their smartvariant association, each contributing its own persistencykey:

abap
    page->tag( n = `SmartVariantManagement` ns = `smartVariantManagement`
        )->a( n = `id`             v = `pageVariantId`
        )->a( n = `persistencyKey` v = `PageVariantPKey` ).

    page->tag( n = `SmartFilterBar` ns = `smartFilterBar`
        )->a( n = `id`             v = `smartFilterBar`
        )->a( n = `entitySet`      v = `ProductSet`
        )->a( n = `smartVariant`   v = `pageVariantId`
        )->a( n = `persistencyKey` v = `SmartFilterPKey` ).

    page->tag( n = `SmartTable` ns = `smartTable`
        )->a( n = `id`                     v = `smartTable`
        )->a( n = `smartFilterId`          v = `smartFilterBar`
        )->a( n = `smartVariant`           v = `pageVariantId`
        )->a( n = `entitySet`              v = `ProductSet`
        )->a( n = `initiallyVisibleFields` v = `ProductID,Name,Category,Price`
        )->a( n = `useVariantManagement`   v = `true`
        )->a( n = `persistencyKey`         v = `SmartTablePKey` ).

Without an annotated UI.LineItem the SmartTable starts with no columns at all, so initiallyVisibleFields is not optional in practice — name the columns the service is meant to show.

The SMART_VARIANT_INIT Handshake ​

In a classic UI5 app, the controller calls initialise( ) on the variant management once the smart controls have registered. Without it, the page variant never gets a personalizable control — saving a view fails in sap.ui.fl and stored views are never loaded. In abap2UI5, the smart_variant_init frontend event performs this handshake; it waits until the smart controls have registered (which they do once their OData metadata has arrived):

abap
client->follow_up_action( val   = client->cs_event-smart_variant_init
                          t_arg = VALUE #( ( `pageVariantId` ) ( `smartFilterBar` ) ) ).

t_arg is positional: the id of the SmartVariantManagement and the id of the SmartFilterBar.

Classic FilterBar with Variants ​

A classic sap.ui.comp.filterbar.FilterBar knows nothing about variants: every list-report controller hand-writes the same callbacks (registerFetchData / registerApplyData / registerGetFiltersWithValues), adds a PersonalizableInfo and marks the variant dirty on each filter change. That is boilerplate over the bar's own filter items — data, not app logic — so the framework owns it. The filter_bar_variant_init frontend event wires a classic FilterBar to a SmartVariantManagement with no JavaScript in the app:

abap
client->follow_up_action( val   = client->cs_event-filter_bar_variant_init
                          t_arg = VALUE #( ( `variantId` ) ( `filterBarId` ) ) ).

t_arg is positional: the id of the SmartVariantManagement and the id of the FilterBar.

Samples

Demo apps 475–479 in the samples repository cover SmartField, SmartForm, SmartTable, the page variant handshake and SmartChart.