Creating Web Applications with the BEx Web Application Designer

Use

The BEx Web Application Designer enables you to create a BEx Web application (an HTML page with BW-specific content) quickly and easily. You can find background information on the steps described below under From Web Template to Web Application.

We recommend that you create your first Web applications with the BEx Web Application wizard in order to familiarize yourself with the Web Application Designer. See Creating Web Applications with the Web Application Wizard .

 Procedure

       1.      Creating a Web Template

Click on  or go to Web Template ® New to create a new Web Template (When you start the Web Application Designer, a new Web template is created).

       2.      Insert a Web Items

a.       Drag a Web item from the Standard tab page in the Web Items window and drop it into the Web template. The Web item appears in the Web template.

Click on the individual Web items to display details for each Web item. The details are displayed in the area of the screen below the Web item tree.

b.       Give the Web item a name by overwriting the default text under Name on the General tab page in the Properties window.

       3.      Setting the data binding.

a.       In the Properties window, on the DataProvider area of the General tab page, describe the data provider by overwriting the existing text under Name, or select a new data provider by clicking on the  pushbutton and overwriting the default text.

b.       Click on  to select an existing query or on  to select an existing view and assign a data provider to the Web item.

§         If you want to create a new query, call the Query Designer by choosing Tools ® Query Designer.

 

§         If you want to create a view based on a query or a view, choose Tools ® View Definition ® Based on a Query/Based on Another View. In the Open Query/View Dialog Box , select an existing query or an existing view. A browser window appears with the Standard Web Template for Ad-hoc Analysis. Define your view here, enter the description and technical name and choose the Save View option. You can now use this view as a data provider.

       4.      Making settings for the Web items.

a.   Go to the Web Item tab page to make special settings for the Web  item.

b.  You specify the attributes by

§         putting a check mark in the corresponding checkbox

§         typing in a value manually (for example, with Header)

§         changing the default value manually

§         double-clicking on the default value and choosing another value from 

          the dropdown box that appears automatically

§         choosing values from lists

§         creating values in a list in tabular form:

You recognize attributes, for which you can create values in the form of a table, by an entry (List) in the Value column (Web Item tab page). You get to the value selection either by double-clicking on the entry (List) or by clicking once on the entry (List) and then clicking on the button with three dots. A new dialog window appears arranged as a table on the right-hand side of the screen. The table has the same name as the attribute. Double-click on any row in the table. A dropdown box appears listing all the values available for you to select. Select a value. The system transfers this value into the selected rows of the table.

For the Chart and Map Web items, you can also call up the dialog for changing attributes using the symbols  or  on the toolbar.

       5.      Adding additional Web items.

Repeat steps 2 – 4 to integrate further Web items.

•          Note the position of the cursor in your Web template when you add further Web items. The cursor position determines where the new Web item is added. See also Designing the Layout of eb Templates.

•          Make sure that you set the data binding and any Web item-specific settings for the correct Web item. Before you make any settings for a Web item, select the Web item in the layout view. In the header of the Properties window, the system displays the Web item for which you can change the settings. As an alternative to selecting the individual Web items, you can use the dropdown box to toggle between the attributes of individual Web items.

       6.      Designing a Web Template layout

In the Web Application Designer, you can create your Web template in the same way as you would in one of the more commonly used HTML editors. See also Designing the Layout of Web Templates.

       7.      Changing the Web template properties.

To change the Web template properties, select the Web template in the header of the Properties window from the dropdown box. For more information, see Web Template Properties.

       8.      Saving and Running the Web Template

a.       Click on the  icon or choose the menu path Web Template ® Save to save your Web template. 

b.       Click on the  icon or choose the menu path Web Template ® Publish in Browser to view your Web application in the browser.

You have to save the Web template before publishing it on the Web. You are therefore asked to save the template when you execute it, if you have not already done so. See also From Web Template to Web Application.

•  Choose Publish ® In Role to assign a Web template to a role. See also Role Maintenance
•  In order to save a Web template as an iView in a role, choose Publish ® As iView.
•  In order to save a Web template locally as an iView file for use in the iView Studio, choose      Publish ® As iView File.
• To place the URL of a Web template on a clipboard, choose Publish ® Copy URL to Clipboard. To do this, you must have saved the Web template once already.

For more information about publishing a Web template as an iView or as an iView file, see Integration into the Enterprise Portal.

Result

The browser is started and the Web application you created is opened.

If you want to print your Web application, you can assign a print stylesheet to the Web template. You can see the selection of print stylesheets only in the HTML view. For further information, see Print Stylesheets. 

See also:

Editing Web Templates

Functions of the Web Application Designer Toolbar