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I am exploring OpenUI5 to use it as front end for developing SAP applications. One thing I noticed is that it is more user friendly with OData services/OData model. I believe, it may be a close initiative of Microsoft with SAP or vice-versa.

I am using Java technology along with JCo outside SAP environment. I am exploring for the best options.

  1. Should I expose my Java services as OData services to leverage OpenUI5 capabilities?

  2. 1 I see that Java implementations for OData support is limited to Version 2 and Version 4 is underway. This community is very small, not surprisingly.

  3. Should I limit the usage of OpenUI5 only for: application definitions, view definitions, layouts, etc. and use Java services (e.g. REST/SOAP)?

  4. 1 Here, I have to add my JavaScript/jQuery logic for the CRUD operations on UI controls. I am not sure how much of it is supported for plain JSON/XML objects if I push JSON/XML response from server.

Dharman
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Gana
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2 Answers2

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I think you should keep it simple and use REST API and Json to communicate between your back end and SAPUI5 front end.

Ryan
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  • I agree with you. Do have any idea on how SAPUI5 handle pagenation for REST calls? I see that it is supported natively for OData. Any material /examples other than Developers Guide? – Gana Jun 19 '14 at 06:44
  • Using REST services will work for simple applications. For enterprise applications where we have to build many screens & services, the development effort becomes bottleneck. An automatic bi-directional synchronization with the help of OData & listeners will be a good choice. – Gana Jul 22 '15 at 09:27
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Just to be clear, I hope you have a clear understanding of Odata and REST. The difference is that OData is a specific protocol; REST is architecture style and design pattern.

The OData protocol is built on top of the AtomPub protocol. The AtomPub protocol is one of the best examples of REST API design. So, in a sense you are right - the OData is just another REST API and each OData implementation is a REST-ful web service.

Odata is the way to go since with Odata Model & binding, the pain of writing a lot of javascript is reduced by a huge proportion.

Dharman
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May13ank
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  • Yes, i do understand that. I wish i use OData but the issue is i am on Java side. OData implementation in java is very limited at this stage and less supported community. I am looking at simplest way of replacement for OData while using SAPUI5 controls. Not sure of how to achieve this!! – Gana Jun 30 '14 at 11:30
  • Odata support is pretty decent in Java as well. Check the following urls:http://www.odata.org/libraries/java/ & https://code.google.com/p/odata4j/ – May13ank Jun 30 '14 at 13:43
  • Thanks for those pointers. Yes, i had browsed those. This is very basic support. This smallest community is not sufficient in my opinion. Java world uses REST with application/service orientation. OData is data oriented. This difference makes it difficult to combine both, in my opinion. A different implementation for REST is required from java side to fill this gap. I will dig into details in the coming days. Thanks for your response. – Gana Jul 02 '14 at 04:49
  • Selecting OData is a better choice. OData on client side, OData server can work well. But supporting automatic bi-directional updates have to be implemented manuallyt everytime, i hope. Is that right? – Gana Jul 22 '15 at 09:25
  • What is the use case ? What I remember is UI5 provides experimental bi-directional update feature. You have to check the demokit for specifics. – May13ank Jul 23 '15 at 08:57