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Purpose

The purpose of this page is to provide answers to common questions regarding the SAP_COM_0013 scenario which enables the creation of Custom UIs for S/4HANA Cloud Custom Business Object services in SAP Web IDE.

Overview

Communication scenario SAP_COM_0013 enables the creation and testing of custom UIs against OData services of custom business objects of an S/4HANA Cloud system, and the deployment of the application to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system (Configuring SAP Web IDE). This article provides information when to use the communication scenario, what is supported by the communication scenario, and when to use a different extensibility-pattern (side-by-side extensibility).

1

Which OData services exposed in S/4HANA Cloud can be used for Custom UIs?

  1. Service consumption via basic authentication (Side-by-side extension deployed to SAP Cloud Platform): Custom Business Object, Custom CDS View, SAP standard service
  2. Service consumption via OAuth 2.0 Authentication (Custom UI built with SAP_COM_0013): Custom Business Object as described in Creating Custom Fiori UIs
This is described in detail in S/4HANA Extensibility: How to Connect Your SAP S/4HANA Cloud to SAP Cloud Platform (SAP CP): Recommendations.
2

Where can I make my Custom UI available to my business users?

  1. Custom Business Object OData service: SAP UI5 ABAP Repository, SAP Cloud Platform
  2. Custom CDS View OData service: SAP Cloud Platform (Side-by-side extension)
  3. SAP Standard OData service: SAP Cloud Platform (Side-by-side extension)
3Can I use an OData service of a Custom CDS View in my Custom UI?There is no possibility to access a Custom CDS View service via a communication arrangement with OAuth2SAMLBearer authentication method with a business user.
The Custom CDS View service does not appear in the service catalog in the Web IDE wizard because it is not part of business catalog SAP_CORE_BC_EXT_TST (Extensibility Test) or any other business catalog.
In addition to that, the custom CDS view cannot be selected for a custom catalog extension which would be necessary to grant the Custom CDS View service authorization to a specific business catalog. However, a technical user from the communication arrangement can call the service (via Basic Authentication).
SAP_COM_0013 supports only custom business objects as described in Creating Custom Fiori UIs. The OData services that can be generated for Custom CDS Views in S/4HANA Cloud are meant to be consumed by another machine a so-called A2X service. The services do not include UI annotations and can only be consumed with a technical communication user (Basic Authentication). The concept of business authorizations is circumvented and authorization to access data cannot be restricted. 
There are alternatives:  
  1. Deploy the UI to the Neo subaccount in the form of a side-by-side app and create a custom tile in the S/4HANA Cloud System. That custom tile points to the app on Neo. This process is described in the following blog post: SAP S/4HANA Cloud – Side-by-Side Extensibility.
  2. The S/4HANA Cloud SDK can be used to implement a side-by-side extension as described in this blog post.
4Can I use SAP standard services as an OData service in my Custom UI?SAP standard services are not released for UI development. The service catalog in Web IDE shows all custom services exposed via OAuth 2.0 authentication. But, it is possible to consume APIs that are exposed at SAP API Business Hub via communication user as explained in S/4HANA Extensibility: How to Connect Your SAP S/4HANA Cloud to SAP Cloud Platform (SAP CP), or consume such APIs using the S/4HANA Cloud SDK or SAP Cloud Platform ABAP Environment to fulfill your requirements.
5Where can I find more information on how to build a Custom UI based on a Custom Business Object App?Online help for Creating Custom Applications gives an overview of the scenario of generating your custom application from custom business objects. Tutorial Create Custom UI for S/4HANA Cloud shows you how to create a simple custom UI for S/4HANA Cloud using SAP Web IDE.
6I have an existing generated UI for a Custom Business Object in my S/4HANA Cloud system SAPUI5 ABAP Repository. Can I make changes and deploy it back to the system?It is possible to generate a UI for a Custom Business Object in the Custom Business Objects app in the S/4HANA Cloud system. Those UIs should not be imported into SAP Web IDE as deploying them back to the system could result in deployment errors. It is possible though to create a new Custom UI for an OData service (e.g. for a Custom Business Object) inside SAP Web IDE as described in the tutorial series Create Custom UI for S/4HANA Cloud. Once you have deployed such a new app to S/4HANA for the first time you can do further changes to it in SAP Web IDE again and deploy it onto the same app that it was initially created as.
7For UI development a developer team needs to work on the same app in SAP Web IDE. From within SAP Web IDE I can use the SAPUI5 ABAP Repository to import/export apps. Should I use the SAPUI5 ABAP Repository to exchange different versions of an app?The SAPUI5 ABAP Repository should only be used as a deployment target: it is not meant to be used as a versioning system like Git. Using Git in SAP Web IDE (with Multiple Developers) describes how to use SAP Web IDE with Git when working with multiple developers on the same UI project.
8Where can I find information on how to implement certain extension scenarios and if I should create a Custom UI via SAP Web IDE (SAP_COM_0013) in my case? The Extensibility Explorer for S/4HANA Cloud offers sample extension scenarios involving in-app and side-by-side extensibility patterns with further resources. The possible extensibility patterns for S/4HANA Cloud can be divided into two patterns:
  • In-App Extensibility: extend and adapt the core of S/4HANA Cloud with built-in capabilities
  • Side-by-Side Extensibility: building new apps on SAP Cloud Platform consuming S/4HANA Cloud APIs
In comparison to in-app extensions, side-by-side extensions tend to be more complex in terms of customization: instead of simpler horizontal solutions, side-by-side extensions are vertical solutions, add-ons that provide process integration. The complex business logic has to be implemented not just by business experts but developers that decouple the functionality of the extension add-on from the standard APIs. 
9Where can I find SAP-standard services exposed in S/4HANA Cloud for use in my Custom UI as well as other integration content?With SAP API Business Hub you can discover and consume digital content packages with APIs, prepackaged integrations, and sample apps from SAP and partners.
10Where can I find more information on how to implement side-by-side extensions?

The blog SAP S/4HANA Cloud – Side-by-Side Extensibility provides an overview how Side-by-Side extensibility enables external content deployed in SAP Cloud Platform to be integrated with S/4HANA Cloud. The best practice Side-by-Side Extensibility for SAP S/4HANA Cloud (‏1RW‏) provides an overview of extension and integration options with the help of sample side-by-side scenarios. SAP Cloud Platform, ABAP Environment enables you to combine existing ABAP expertise with an agile platform-as-a-service.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud SDK provides you out-of-the-box capabilities, such as an abstraction of the underlying cloud platform implementation (SAP Cloud Platform Neo, Cloud Foundry), fault-tolerance, cache management, tutorials and project templates.

11

Where can I find information about the S/4HANA Cloud SDK?

The blog SAP S/4HANA Cloud SDK Overview explains the features of the S/4HANA Cloud SDK. In blog Deep Dive 1 with SAP S/4HANA Cloud SDK: An End-to-End Story on the Virtual Data Model using the Business Partner API you can learn how to build a Side-By-Side application based on a SAP standard service in S/4HANA Cloud. Deep Dive 10 with SAP S/4HANA Cloud SDK: Generating Java VDM for S/4HANA Custom OData Service on the other hand provides instructions how to build your side-by-side extension on an OData service of a Custom Business Object in S/4HANA Cloud.
12Where can I find more information on how to enable integration between S/4HANA Cloud and SAP Cloud Platform as extension platform?The online help for Extending SAP S/4HANA Cloud guides you through the configuration tasks that you need to perform to integrate the SAP Cloud Platform and the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system to extend your SAP S/4HANA Cloud solutions. Blog S/4HANA Extensibility: How to Connect Your SAP S/4HANA Cloud to SAP Cloud Platform (SAP CP) shows how to connect you SAP S/4HANA Cloud system to SAP Cloud Platform (SAP CP) to build extension apps.
13Where can I find more information on how to configure integration of S/4HANA Cloud and SAP Web IDE?SAP KBA 2685335 shows how to configure SAP Web IDE integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Online help for Configuring SAP Web IDE provides the necessary configuration steps to enable testing of UIs for an S/4HANA Cloud solution and deployment of these UI applications back to the S/4 system.
14Which authentication methods are supported by communication scenario SAP_COM_0013 for SAP Web IDE Integration with S/4HANA Cloud?The SAP_COM_0013 scenario only supports OAuth 2.0 as authentication method. As this scenario is used for providing a service catalog in Web IDE (list of available services in the S/4HANA system) and for deploying a custom UI to the SAPUI5 ABAP Repository of the system, it is recommended to only use OAuth authentication when using those features. It is still possible use OData services directly and consume them via Basic Authentication by providing a service URL - this feature should only be used when deploying the UI to SAP Cloud Platform because only then you can provide a layer of business authorization. You should always make sure that you will use the authentication method during development/testing in SAP Web IDE as you will later in the productive app.
15What is the purpose of business catalog SAP_CORE_BC_EXT_TST in the context of SAP_COM_0013?Business catalog SAP_CORE_BC_EXT_TST provides authorizations to access the OData services of Custom Business Objects. For more information about assigning business catalogs, see online help for Business Catalogs.
16Where can I address issues regarding integration of S/4HANA Cloud and SAP Web IDE?BC-SRV-APS-EXT-WDE area is responsible for a particular communication scenario: "SAP_COM_0013 - SAP Web IDE Integration", which can be used to develop a Fiori UI against a custom business object and deploying this UI into a SAP S/4HANA system.
17Where can I address issues regarding authentication in SAP Web IDE and S/4HANA Cloud via Identity Authentication Service?For a new incident with the request around Identity Provider (IdP) with SAP Cloud Platform, BC-IAM-IDS may be the correct component here.
18While creating an extension project in SAP Web IDE based on apps in the SAPUI5 ABAP Repository: is it possible to select SAP standard apps as the original application?

SAP standard apps are not supported as the originial app for an extension project, only custom apps (e.g deployed from Web IDE or generated apps for Custom Business Objects) can be selected.
Extension projects (in Web IDE) are not supported in S/4HANA Cloud. To adapt S/4HANA Cloud standard apps, you can use „UI Flexibility & Variants“. That is, assign business catalog SAP_CORE_BC_EXT, and then choose „Adapt UI“.

For more information on this topic, please refer to: 
• https://help.sap.com/viewer/4fc8d03390c342da8a60f8ee387bca1a/1911.500/en-US/5c424437bf794f809087fdce391149f2.html
• https://blogs.sap.com/2015/09/30/the-key-user-extensibility-tools-of-s4-hana/

19How do I enable navigation to a Custom Business Object based Custom UI where the Custom Business Object has more than one key field?

Imagine the following scenario. You have one Custom Business Object Person (ID = YY1_PERSON) with an association to another Custom Business Object Address. Address has two key fields Street (Identifier = STREET) and House Number (Identifier = HOUSE_NUMBER). You have built a Custom UI on top of Address (while Person uses the UI generated by the Custom Business Object app). So here is what you must enter in the Navigation part of your manifest.json to make the navigation between Person and Address work:

  1. In the Inbound section add an entry with Semantic Object = YY1_PERSON, Action = maintain.
  2. Scroll all the way down to section Inbound Parameters. Add all the key fields of your CBO exactly as they appear in the Identifier column in the CBO. So for this example add one entry with STREET and one with HOUSE_NUMBER in the required Name column.

In case Person also uses a Custom UI, you must add a mapping for the key fields in the annotations.xml file.

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