UI Layer and the SAP UI Toolkit

UI Layer

The SAP UI Toolkit forms an additional layer in the UI programming model for plug-ins in Eclipse.

This toolkit, which forms a layer on top of SWT and JFace, was created with the aim of greatly simplifying the basic steps you perform to create user interfaces – in comparison with native programming.

The UI toolkit provides an open approach, which does not seek to replace the SWT and JFace. In addition, you can use classes and interfaces from the UI toolkit, the SWT, and JFace to create the same interface. This means that you do not need to make an “either/or” decision. Instead you benefit from the advantages inherent in each of these two compatible approaches. However, we advise you to exhaust the features in the SAP UI toolkit before you turn to native programming offered by the SWT and JFace.

Benefits of the SAP UI toolkit:

· Shallow learning curve: You can create complex, ambitious user interfaces without spending a lot of time learning how to use SWT and JFace.

· Less code, fewer bugs: Your source code will be shorter, more compact and easier to read. You can often generate and define complex interface elements with a single line of code. Moreover, the shorter source code potentially contains fewer bugs.

· An ability to think about the future now: You can start thinking now about how to contribute to reducing the level of support required later. It is to be expected that we will all benefit from compact, standardized source code.

The examples plug-in

The examples plug-in, available as a .zip file, provides an introduction to the features of the SAP UI toolkit. You will be taken through the UI programming step by step using source code adapted for a very specific purpose. You will also learn about the constraints inherent in using this framework, and find out how to combine both approaches using composites.