This all-new technical reference guide, the newest in the SAP PRESS Essentials Series, shows you how you can use RIAs – Rich Internet Applications (for reporting and analysis tasks, for example) – to reduce the load on your database and your application server.

Readers learn how to shift all layout information – and even parts of the application logic – from the SAP Web Application Server, to the client. You’ll uncover the advantages of the RIA approach, learn how to solve layout issues, and implement client-side data retrieval through Web services. The author selected Flash MX 2004, an ideal tool for developing modern business applications, as the front-end technology, and shows you how to leverage its greatly improved graphical formatting options and comparatively simple development techniques, to make your project a success.

Table of Contents

Introduction ... 5
Structure of the book ... 5
Acknowledgments ... 6

1. HTML, Flash, and the Path to Rich Internet Applications ... 7
... 1.1 The Web and the W3C ... 8
... 1.2 Standards Gain Acceptance ... 9
... 1.3 Flash - A Proprietary Format Becomes an Open Source Standard ... 10
... 1.4 Rich Internet Applications as an Alternative to HTML ... 11
... 1.5 Why Use Flash as a Frontend? ... 13
... 1.6 Examples of RIA Applications with Flash ... 14

2. The Web AS in the Backend ... 21
... 2.1 Database Design, Data Integrity, RFC Access to other Data Sources, and
the ALE Layer ... 21
... 2.2 Object-Oriented Access to Database Objects with ABAP Objects ... 23
... 2.3 Encapsulating the Backend Using Web Services ... 26
... 2.4 SAP R/3 Basis Functions: Security and Communication with Other Systems ... 33

3. The Web AS in the Frontend ... 41
... 3.1 Static Web Pages with the Web AS ... 41
... 3.2 Dynamic Pages with the Web AS ... 43
... 3.3 The Modern Version: Model View Controller ... 46
... 3.4 Notes on Developing a Classic Web Application ... 52
... 3.5 Borderline Cases: Data Transfer Amounts, Interactivity, and Multimedia ... 52

4. Rich Internet Applications with Flash Plug-in ... 55
... 4.1 The Start ... 57
... 4.2 Interaction Between Flash MX 2004 and a Web Service on the Web AS ... 60
... 4.3 Integrating Two Web Services in the RIA Client ... 65
... 4.4 RIA Design Pattern ... 77
... 4.5 Object-Oriented Programming with Flash and ActionScript ... 78
... 4.6 Symbiosis Between RIA and BSP ... 81

5. Comparing RIA Frontends ... 83
... 5.1 Dynamic Flash Generation ... 83
... 5.2 Netscape and XUL ... 85
... 5.3 Microsoft ... 88
... 5.4 Sun Microsystems and JSF ... 92
... 5.5 W3C and XForms ... 95
... 5.6 Comparing the Concepts ... 98

6. Outlook ... 101

7. Bibliography ... 103

Index ... 105