Building ABAP Application with RESTful ABAP Programming Model

Introduction

• Lecturer: Robert
• Focus of the lecture:
  • Building an app to display, edit, delete, and create YouTube videos using ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model.
  • Key functionalities: create a table, insert data, provision an OData service, adapt UI with metadata extensions, display thumbnails.
• Tools & Environment:
  • Eclipse development environment for ABAP
  • Previous video recommendation: Eclipse for ABAP developers

Live Demonstration Overview

• App Features: Overview
  • List view showing video titles, descriptions, and hyperlinks.
  • Edit, create, delete functionalities.
  • Thumbnail display as virtual elements in the first column.

Development Steps

• Creating a Package in Eclipse
  • Create a package video for the app: favorite packages > right-click > new ABAP package
  • Add a description “YouTube videos”, set super package to local.
• Creating a Table
  • Create a database table in Data Dictionary: right-click package > new > other ABAP repository > table
  • Fields for the table: title, URL, description, video UUID, timestamps, and user fields.
  • Save and activate the table

Filling Table with Data

• Executable ABAP Class Creation
  • Create ZL_VIDEO_GENERATOR class to insert data: right-click package > new ABAP class
  • Add interface: IF_OADT_CLASSRUN
  • Implement method to add records into the table
  • Activation & Execution: Save, activate, execute to insert test data
• Insertion of Real Data
  • Replace test data with actual video entries
  • Script to set title, URL, and description, populate timestamps and user info automatically.

Generating OData UI Service

• Using Generator
  • Generate artifacts: right-click table > generate ABAP Repository Object > OData UI Service
  • Confirm package, transport request, repository objects, and finish.
  • View generated artifacts: CDS view entity, behavior definitions, ABAP classes, service definitions, metadata extensions
  • Publishing Service: Open service binding and publish
• UI Preview & Improvements
  • Initial UI review: Check list, format changes needed.
  • Adjust annotations in CDS projection and metadata extensions for UI layout.
  • Implement clickable hyperlinks and hide unnecessary fields (UUID, timestamps, user fields).

Advanced UI Enhancements

• Creating Virtual Elements
  • Add virtual field for thumbnails in projection view
  • Create ABAP class to calculate thumbnail URLs
  • Script to extract video IDs and construct thumbnail URLs dynamically.
  • Integration into projection view annotations and table
• Metadata Extension Configuration
  • Adjust list view to display virtual thumbnails in the first column.
  • Update header info in the object page to show title and thumbnail.
  • Save, activate changes, and view in browser for final confirmation.

Conclusion

• Summary: Demonstrated creation of a functional ABAP application to manage YouTube video entries with enhancements in the UI for a better user experience.
• Next Steps: Encourage viewers to like, subscribe, and enable notifications for future videos.