We would like to draw your attention to some of the most important and exciting new features across our libraries. Please note that the following is a select list of new features which we thought you might be most interested in, hence it is by no means intended to be exhaustive.
In sap.ui.core, sap.m. as well as sap.ui.layout and sap.ui.unified:
- New OData Model implementation (see API documentation here):
- Greatly improved two-way binding and $batch support and improved performance overall through reduced and more asynchronous requests. Some details are still being developed and documentation is currently still being written, but this is the go-to model starting with release 1.26. It does everything the old one does, just better. So learn about it as soon as possible, use it for new apps and consider migrating old apps!
- All requests within a “thread” will be collected and bundled in batch requests. This includes all manual requests via the CRUD methods, as well as requests triggered by a binding. Different bundles can be created using a batchGroupId. Batch groups can be deferred to be submitted later.
- Requests are stored and can be submitted via a manual submitChanges call.
- The new model no longer has the restriction of changing only one entity at once. The model operates on a data copy for “two-way” changes, meaning it is possible to reset changes without sending a request to fetch the old data again.
- Easy batch support for manual operations: You can call read(), read(), update(). If a request returns data, this data will be imported into the model. This means it is even possible to do partial updates of the data manually.
- Support for Windows Phone, more precisely: support for IE11 in Windows Phone 8.1 update 1 with version number 8.10.14157 or higher (this is where a lot of HTML5 fixes were added by Microsoft). This support is valid for the following libraries (those supporting mobile devices): sap.m, sap.ui.core, sap.ui.layout, sap.ui.unified. Please note that certain new / more complex controls that do not yet offer mobile device support also do not support Windows Phone at this time, such as: sap.m.FacetFilter, sap.m.ComboBox, sap.m.Tokenizer, sap.m.MultiInput, sap.m.MultiComboBox, sap.ui.unified.Calendar.
- New control sap.ui.layout.FixFlex. This new control addresses the common layout use-case where one part of the UI has a certain size (which may be set, or may be defined by the content size) and the other part of the UI should use all of the remaining space (horizontally and vertically). See an example on jsbin.
- New control sap.m.RadioButtonGroup. This new control improves layouting and the use of keyboard navigation and data binding - see the "Explored" example.
- New control sap.m.ToolbarSeparator. This new control is used for the sap.m.Toolbar.
- New control sap.m.SelectList. This new control is similar to sap.ui.commons.ListBox - see the "Explored" example.
- Fast keyboard navigation. The new fast keyboard navigation allows you to navigate quickly between groups using F6 - see the documentation.
- jQuery 1.11.1 is now used by default.
- SAPUI5 Mobile Diagnostics. We have improved the structure of the mobile diagnostics dialog and added a new function for end-to-end (E2E) tracing. You can now open the dialog with the following touch combination: press two fingers on a non-interactive screen area (for example, a blank area) for at least 3 seconds, then tap with a third finger while still holding the other two on the screen. See the documentation for details.
Further features include:
- Extensibility: ExtensionPoints are also offered in JSViews and controls can be hidden in all view types
- sap.m.IconTabBar: New properties stretchContentHeight, applyContentPadding, and backgroundDesign.
- stretchContentHeight can be used together with the new FixFlex layout control to create pages where the IconTabBar does not scroll together with its content and the content fills the remaining space below the IconTabBar
- MessageBox (sap.ui.commons and sap.m): This can now display any control as content, not only strings (this is also being downported to 1.22 and 1.24)
- sap.m.CheckBox/RadioButton: New "editable" property.
- sap.m.RadioButton: New "valueState" property for visualizing error or warning states.
- Value state message text for sap.m.ComboBox, sap.m.DatePicker, sap.m.DateTimeInput, sap.m.DateRangeSelection, sap.m.MultiComboBox, sap.m.MultiInput, sap.m.TextArea
- sap.m.ScrollContainer: New "focusable" property to enable keyboard scrolling when there is no focusable content inside.
- sap.m.ObjectIdentifier can be set to "titleActive" and then fires the "titlePress" event on click.
- Keyboard usage improvements in several controls, e.g. sap.m.ComboBox, sap.m.MultiInput, sap.m.Slider, sap.m.Select, sap.m.ViewSettingsDialog
- Dates can be entered in short format without delimiters and non-existing dates are no longer changed to existing dates.
- Visual design update for sap.m.Token.
- "mobileWebAppCapable" option: Previously, all apps built with sap.m controls set a meta tag that causes the app to be launched without browser UI when started from an iOS device home screen. Now apps can opt out of this (usually desired) behavior with the option "mobileWebAppCapable" in jQuery.sap.initMobile and the function jQuery.sap.setMobileWebAppCapable().
- The support popup on mobile devices has been restructured, and an end-to-end trace feature has been added. It is now triggered with the following touch combination: press two fingers on a non-interactive screen area (for example, a blank area) for at least 3 seconds, then tap with a third finger while holding the other two on the screen.
- Improved OPA (One Page Acceptance) tests: There is now a new way to structure your OPA tests: If you have multiple pages or UI areas that feature several operations, you should place them as reuse functionality in page objects to make your OPA tests more maintainable.
- A visibility attribute is now available for all controls, as they now inherit this property from the sap.ui.core.Control class.
New Features in SAP Collaboration (com.sap.collaboration)
SAP Collaboration now contains two new components:
- Social Timeline Component: This is an SAPUI5 Component that you can use to display the Timeline of a Business Object.
- Social Profile Component (Experimental): An SAPUI5 Component to provide user information from SAP Jam.
New Features in sap.suite.ui.commons
- All Fiori-related controls in sap.ui.suite.commons: Accessibility of the Fiori-related controls, including Keyboard support, screen reader support and HCB theme support, is now completely implemented.
- sap.suite.ui.commons.HeaderContainer: Enhanced control with the showDividers property. If it is set to true, dividers appear between scrollable items.
- sap.suite.ui.commons.GenericTile: Enhanced control with single wide content option that takes the horizontal space of two smaller contents in 2x1 tiles.
- sap.suite.ui.commons.MicroAreaChart: Enhanced control with a wide view option, allowing you to display the control with the labels located aside the chart. Suitable for use in the 2x1 tiles.
- sap.suite.ui.commons.ComparisonChart: Enhanced control with a wide view option, allowing you to display the control with labels located aside the chart. Suitable for use in combination within 2x1 tiles.
- sap.suite.ui.commons.ComparisonChart: Enhanced control with a shrinkable property. If it is set to true, the height of the control is defined by its content.
- sap.suite.ui.commons.HeaderContainer: Enhanced with an experimental feature of a vertical view, allowing you to display the control in vertical mode.
- sap.suite.ui.commons.GenericTile2x2: A new EXPERIMENTAL control providing the 2X2 setting for the frameType. It is based on the sap.suite.ui.commons.GenericTile and provides the same features for the larger tile size.
- New node type in suite.ui.commons.ProcessFlow: A new node type “Planned Negative” (sap.suite.ui.commons.ProcessFlowNodeState.PlannedNegative) was introduced with 1.26.
![planned_negative.png]()
The node looks similar to the planned node: (sap.suite.ui.commons.ProcessFlowNodeState.Planned). The only difference is that a planned node cannot have any state, whereas “Planned Negative” has a negative state ( like the type "Negative" - see the red icon and the state text above). “Planned Negative” nodes are displayed red in the donut chart of the lane header ( in the same way as created items with “Negative” state are displayed):![planned_negative12.png]()
New Features in SAP Smart Business (com.sap.smartbusiness)
- Generation of Sample Data: Smart Business now enables you to create a set of sample Smart Business data to allow customers to play around with the product. To create this sample set of data, you need to launch the "KPI Workspace" with a URL parameter.
- Wide Tile: You can create a wide tile in a 2x1 format. In this wide tile, the left tile would always be a numeric tile, but the right tile can be any of the other 1x1 tiles supported by Smart Business (for the same evaluation).
- Smart Business modeler application “Configure KPI Tile”: Using this application, customers can create a copy of the evaluations shipped by SAP, in which they can provide values for the input parameters and filters. They can then choose to create a tile for any customer evaluation created in this way. See the documentation for the list of supported tiles.
- Simplified export tool: A tool is now available which allows customers to export the Wave 4 / Wave 5 Smart Business contents. This tool will export their contents to the file system on which it is run as a set of csv files and one hdbti file. These files can then be used at a later time to perform a content upload to a target system. Customers can also use the tool to export Roles and Analytical privileges. For more documentation on SAP Smart Business see the documentation here.
New Features in SAP APF
- Graphical User Interface to create and configure APF based applications.
- Convenient Facet Filter configuration.
- Extended, more flexible charting capabilities: Among other features, several properties (dimensions, measures) can now be assigned to one axis, and there is a new chart type, the bubble chart.
- Persistence and storage of configurations is now supported as extensions in design and run time.
- Availability of text pools: This allows you to provide one text file across configurations.