ABAP_to_the_Future

12
Web Dynpro ABAP and Floorplan Manager
The second reason often given against jumping out of DYNPRO is that some people
argue that WDA is obsolete even be fore it has entered widespread adoption
due to the advent of SAPUI5. This book looks at WDA in this chapter and SAPUI5
in the next and lets you make up your own mind (i.e., treats you like an adult).
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This chapter will teach you about WDA
(including Floorplan Manager); where applicable, it uses the familiar concepts of
classic DYNPROs in order to do so. Sect ion 12.1 looks at the idea of the modelview-controller
(MVC) concept and how SAP has attempted to bake this in to the
WDA framework. Section 12.2 revisits the monster model from the previous chapters
and the model you developed to display the Monster Monitor in an ALV grid.
It also explains how to reuse this mode l to display data in a WDA application.
Finally, Section 12.3 takes a peek at FPM, which is a WDA-based technology that
aims to speed up WDA application develo pment and at the same time provide a
sort of uniformity of look and feel to disparate applicat ions. As part of this, you
will see how the BOPF monster business object created earlier integrates into FPM.
12.1 The Model-View-Controller Concept
WDA is based on the MVC concept of programming, which you’ve seen mentioned
several times throughout this b ook. The MVC model helps to maintain a
separation of concerns so that each part of the application has one job to do only
and can change independently of th e others; the WDA framework in SAP
enforces the MVC pattern. (In some othe r programming languages, you literally
do not have a choice and must do things this way. However, ABAP was designed
for the monolithic programming style, so the WDA model is supposed to enforce
“best practices,” a common SAP catchphrase.)
Because you’re now reading a chapter on a technology that holds this MVC concept
at its core, you should have a basic grasp of what the three elements are. This
section describes these elements and wh ere they should reside inside a WDA
application.
12.1.1 Model
A model is a class that contains the business logic of an object. It exposes to the
outside world all one would wish to know about an object’s attributes and behav-
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