Data Retention for Device Recognition (SAP Library - Administrator’s Guide to Device Recognition)

Data Retention for Device Recognition

Use

The device recognition process allows the system to identify a specific mobile device type. At runtime, it creates an instance of the implementation of the IF_CLIENT_INFO interface that it fills with the values assigned to this device type.

Data retention for device recognition gives you an insight into how the data needed for device recognition is stored.

R/3 tables implemented for device recognition

The values that SAP delivers for each device type, which can be accessed using the IF_CLIENT_INFO interface methods, are stored in the following table on the SAP Web Application Server:

MOB_DEVCAP

You can view this table in the SOMRT package by choosing Dictionary Objects ® Database Tables.

This table contains:

The properties that describe the capabilities of each mobile device, such as COLOR_SUPPORTED or TABLE_SUPPORTED.

Additional properties for which SAP has suggested a default value for a specific device – such as the GET_DEFAULT_BULLET method, which allows you to change the list character used for lists.

Note

System administrators can modify this table and thus adapt Web applications to the look and feel of their enterprise.

Note

In the SAP Web Application Server 6.10, these properties are stored in two separate XML files with the extensions .cap and .pfe. The *.pfe files contain the properties for which SAP has suggested default values. Note that the MOB_DEVPFE table in the SAP Web Application Server 6.10 (which contains these predefined properties for all mobile devices) is client-specific. SAP delivers it in client 000. This means that you can modify the values that SAP has delivered for different clients in your enterprise. The MOB_DEVCAP table is cross-client. At runtime, this separation of properties into two different database tables is removed; the values for each device are entered in the relevant instance of the implementation of the IF_CLIENT_INFO interface.

When a mobile device sends an HTTP request, the database table MOB_DEVCFG ensures that device-specific data only is loaded and that an instance of the implementation of the IF_CLIENT_INFO interface is filled with the appropriate values.

Caution

When maintaining the contents of database tables or names of files, fields, and so on, bear in mind that Java is case-sensitive.

Descriptions of device properties in XML files

The device properties of specific device types are also provided in XML files with the extension .cap.

These XML files contain all the properties of the mobile device that provide information on its capabilities, along with properties for which SAP proposes default values for a specific device. They are stored, compressed, in the devices.zip file in the MIME Repository of the SAP Web Application Server. System administrators can use these files in the following activities to implement updated R/3 tables within the device recognition process:

Modifying Device Properties

Integrating New Mobile Devices

You can use the import program (the CI_IMPORT transaction) in the SOMRT package to transfer the updated data and thus the device property values from the XML files to the appropriate R/3 tables. There is a 1:1 mapping between these XML files and R/3 tables.