SCN Content

One of your first stops after installing the ABAP 7.02 trial (or if you are looking for something to read during the installation process), should be the new functions and features page here on SCN. It does a nice job of summarizing the high level feature areas and give you an excellent starting point to perform further research.

There have also been several blogs released in the last week, all focused on the 7.02 ABAP topic and of the things you can try in 7.02 once you have the trial installed.

• ABAP Trial Version 7.02 available in SCN! by Horst Keller
• Web Version of ABAP Keyword Documentation by Horst Keller
• ABAP Feature Set Backport 7.X to 7.02 – Overview by Horst Keller
• Source Code-Based Class Builder by Snezhina Velcheva

All of these provide great starting points, particularly for learning new ABAP syntax or workbench capabilities.

Although not directly SCN hosted, it’s probably important to note that the 7.02 version of help.sap.com is now live. I personally find the New Features section of the online help useful when learning the delta features.  For example if you want an overview of the new functionality in Web Dynpro ABAP in 7.02, here is the link you should start with on help.sap.com.

TechEd 2010

TechEd was also a great source of information on the new features in ABAP 7.02.  Don’t forget that many of the sessions were recorded and can be viewed at any time. These sessions can be viewed here: http://www.virtualsapteched.com/

Particularly on the topic of new features you want to learn about in this trial, you might watch the replays of CD105 – What’s New in Web Dynpro ABAP 7.01 and 7.02 and CD203 – Best Practices for Designing Web Dynpro ABAP User Interface.

If you attended TechEd this year, you might have noticed that we didn’t give out the source code to the attendees for many of the usual workshops.  This was mostly because the source code was based upon NetWeaver 7.02 and without a trial edition at that release level yet, it wouldn’t do anyone much good.  Thankfully we now have the 7.02 trial, so we have started uploading some of the code to the SAP Code Exchange.

I have created a Code Exchange project to house transports that can be imported into the 7.02 to deliver some of the demos and exercises we used at TechEd: https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/groups/sap-teched-2010-abap-702-examples-and-demo

Currently I have uploaded the content from CD160 – Introduction to Web Dynpro ABAP, CD105 – What’s New in Web Dynpro ABAP 7.01 and 7.02, CD203 – Best Practices for Designing Web Dynpro ABAP User Interfaces, and CD266 – Update Your ABAP Development Skills to NetWeaver 7.0 and Beyond.

If you access the Code Exchange project and go to the Releases tab (after accepting the Terms of Usage), you will see individual download files. Each contains ABAP transport files for the various areas covered.  There is a file for all the CD266 Exercises and the CD160 exercises.  There are also transports for the various demos, such as the performance demos used in CD203 or the Flash Islands and Silverlight Islands demoed in CD105.

If you need any general advice on how to import transports into the trial edition ABAP AS, I would recommend this blog: http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/6380.  Its a little bit older now and focused on an early release level, but the overall process of performing transports is sound.

SAP Press Book

If you are interested in the 7.02 features for ABAP development, then (at the risk of some self promotion) I would also recommend the new SAP Press book – Next Generation ABAP Development 2nd Edition, which is scheduled to begin shipping in early January. This new edition of the book was extended and revised specifically to cover the new features in ABAP development in NetWeaver 7.01 and 7.02. For example, the syntax all throughout the book has been updated to include the new statement chaining and extended expressions possible in NetWeaver 7.02.  There are also completely new topics like Business Objects integration, BRF+, Page Builder, Islands, etc.

The book also comes with a CD that contains the source code of all the projects discussed in the book – source code that you can now actually install and run thanks to the recent release of the 7.02 trial edition.

UPDATED: For a limited time you can use discount code NEXTGENABAP to get a 10% discount on the book when you order from the SAP Press website.

• CD102 Web Dynpro for ABAP Overview
  • Phoenix
  • Vienna
  • Shanghai
  • Bangalore
• CD264 Developing User Interfaces with Web Dynpro for ABAP
  • Phoenix
  • Vienna
  • Bangalore
• UP162 Personalization, Configuration, and Customization of Web Dynpro ABAP with Floorplan Manager
  • Phoenix
  • Vienna
• UP201 Web Dynpro ABAP: Enhancements with SAP NetWeaver 7.0 and Beyond
  • Phoenix
  • Vienna
• CD260 ABAP Development: Update Your Skills to SAP NetWeaver 7
  • Phoenix
  • Vienna
  • Bangalore

You can download a high resolution version MP4 version of the video here:
http://blip.tv/file/get/Thomas_jung-AFSSept232009TechEdPreview794.mp4

You can download an iPod/iPhone version of the video here:
http://blip.tv/file/get/Thomas_jung-AFSSept232009TechEdPreview381.mp4

Although the episode comes a few days late because of last minute preparations for ASUG/SAPPHIRE, hopefully everyone will find it worth the wait.

Will the RIA and Enterprise Worlds Collide or will they have a near miss?

Well eGheads, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Sit down and enjoy this must listen episode with Adobe Platform Evangelist, Ryan Stewart. Ed, Thomas, and Ryan cover a little bit of everything including comparisons of Adobe vs. SAP approach to reaching developers and the future of RIA in the SAP world.

If you have questions, suggestions, or topic ideas for future episodes, give us a shout here. Enjoy!

Running Time: 61 minutes

Talking Points

1. 00:15 – Intro with Ryan Stewart
   • Traveling around the world
   • A little background
   • Life of a Technology Evangelist
2. 07:49 – Can SAP learn from Adobe’s growth of Flex and AIR
3. 12:44 – RIA in the Enterprise
   • How fast will adoption be for RIA technologies within the enterprise?
   • Will the barrier to entry into SAP development scare off existing RIA developers away from the enterprise?
   • After analytics and data visualization, what else will RIA help push forward?
4. 26:38 – Current exciting technologies in the RIA world
   • Ribbit – also check out Flash Islands using Ribbit by Mrinal Wadhwa
   • Flash Collaboration Service
5. 30:38 – Talking SAP TechEd and Adobe MAX 2009
6. 33:55 – Do designers and designer tools have a place in the enterprise?
   • Intro to Flash Catalyst
   • Will Flash Islands layer abstraction allow IT to utilize design centric RIA shops like Cynergy Systems and Universal Mind?
   • Designer tools like Flash Catalyst and Microsoft Expression Blend for prototyping
   • Other ideas for SAP and Adobe partnership like SAP theme UI add-ons and integration with SAP Visual Composer
7. 49:13 – Ryan’s thoughts on Oracle buying Sun and the implications for JavaFX
8. 52:10 – Closing Thoughts
   • Ed and Ryan’s web 2.0 story
   • Check out Kurt Brockett and Identity Mine
   • Ed, Ryan, and Thomas share stories about eating burgers at The Counter
   • Check out Ryan’s blog
   • Follow Ryan on Twitter
   • Listen to Ryan and Cote on RIA weekly

IdentityMine Wine Guide Solution – Tesco Wine Fair from IdentityMine on Vimeo.

Blag (the person on the left) - on stage at TechEd 2008

In this special edition of the Enterprise Geeks podcast we get the opportunity to interview the SDN star himself – Alvaro Tejada; or Blag as everyone around the SAP space knows him. Blag is one of the best known faces in the SAP community.  He is frequent moderator on the SDN Forums and quite a prolific author. In this podcast he shares his experiences as an SAP Mentor, talks about the upcomming SAP Inside Track Lima (which he is organizing) and we discuss UI topics like Adobe Flex development and FlashIslands for Web Dynpro.

If you have questions, suggestions, or topic ideas for future episodes, give us a shout here. Enjoy!

Running Time: 26 minutes

Talking Points

1. 00:00 – Introduction to Blag
2. 03:00 – TechEd Phoenix
3. 07:00 – UI Discussion
4. 10:30 – Adobe Flex Development
5. 13:40 – Islands within Web Dynpro
6. 17:00 – State of Upgrades
7. 20:00 – SAP Inside Track, Lima
8. 22:40 – Mark Finnern’s Musical Talents