introduction to unification · introduction to unification and ... create ui integration of...

Introduction to Unification and Relation Resolving

© SAP AG 2002, Title of Presentation, Speaker Name / 2

What is Unification ?

Part of the Portal Platform to model Business Objects from back-end systems and the Relationships between them.

Provide Advanced Navigation models for the end user based on:Relation Resolving – navigate between two objects according to their relationsAuto Complete – complete relations automatically between two objects transitively.

Enable information Correlation between different back-end systems to bring relevant results from one system to another. Advanced Navigation capabilities can be used through correlation.

Create UI Integration of different data from different data sources. The current UI metaphor is Drag & Relate – taking pieces of information, dragging them onto an iView to produce the related results.

Additional UI metaphor is to have a Context menu for all Unification operations, (integrated with the Object Based Navigation technology)


Unification Overview

Customer List

Name No.AMS 24568

Honeybad 26894

Plastoco 33657

Smith & Co. 70256Orders

Orders of Smith & Co

No. Date24568 12/10/04

26894 10/07/04

33657 22/04/04

70256 6/01/04

Materials of Smith & Co Orders

Material Order No.Material1 24568

Material2 24568

R/3

Order

Material

Customer

Material3 24568

Material1 70256

Materials

and relation

thengeneratedrelation

If exist relation


Run Time Benefits

Customer List

Name No.AMS 12345

Honeybad 67890

Plastoco 11223

Smith & Co. 34455

Automatic Relation – All possible results

Customer List

Name No.AMS 12345

Honeybad 67890

Plastoco 11223

Smith & Co. 34455

Manual Relation – Specific Results

CustomerCustomerCustomerCustomer

Automatic relation

Defined Manual relation with

filtering condition

Materials of orders


Material1 26894

Material1 33657

Material2 24568

Material2 26894

Material2 33657

All possible results

Materials of last week orders


Material1 26894

Material2 24568

Material3 24568

Materials belong to last week

orders only

MaterialMaterial MaterialMaterial


Unification of Different Backend Systems

R/3 – Existing Relations BW – Existing Relations

Customer

RegionOrder

Material

Customer

When Manual relation is created during the design time

new Automatic relation can be generated on run time


How to initiate Relation Resolving?

There are two ways to initiate a Unification process.

1. Drag & RelateThe user drags an HRNP link from his current content and drops it on a Drag & Relate enabled iView in one of the navigation iViews.HRNP is our proprietary format that is capable of describing an instance of a Business Object, or a group (filter) of such instances. A simple example:

hrnp://host/Datasource1.Customers/ID/1000A Drag & Relate enabled iView has one or more Business Objects that it knows to present.The navigation iView builds a Portal URL that raises the Drag & Relate event on the target iView and passes the HRNP link in the draggedValue parameter.

2. Context MenuBy using the EPCM technology one can build a context menu out ofoperations.It is possible to define an operation as a relation resolving navigation.Opening the context menu and clicking the operation will identify the target’s iView main object and will operate relation resolving between the source and target objects.


Drag & Relate

To see details about a specific Top-10 Customer, drag it onto the R/3 transaction


Drag & Relate Result


Context Menu

Click Operation


Context Menu Result


Demo


Unification Architecture

Design Tools (Part of the Portal)

One generic platformfor all back ends

To be Unification-enabled:Just add Connector and 3 services.

Query Editor

Extendable UDK Elements

Master iView Link Parser Event/Component Hook

Drag & RelateService

Object BasedNavigation

Service

Business Object Semantic Layer

UnificationControllerService

R

R

R

R

Relation Resolving Service

AutoComplete

R

BusinessObjects Relations Operations

DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools

RelationshipMatrix/Editor

BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS


Design Time Tools

Relationships MatrixA graphical representation of the relation between Business Objects.Uses a Relationship Editor to edit a specific relation

Business Objects EditorA tool for defining the Business Objects to be represented in the PortalSupports automatic importing of the object model of an application using the connector framework.


Unification Platform building blocks (1/2)

Drag & Relate ServiceCalled by the component hook during the Drag&Relate operation.Runs in the context of the target component.Uses the Link Parser to analyze the dragged URL.Dispatches the Drag&Relate operation to the Unification ControllerService.Receives the returned result set and attaches it to the requestobject.

Unification Controller ServiceReceives a parsed Drag&Relate object.Uses the Relation Resolving Service to generate the correct Joins between the Business Objects.Generate the backend distributed back-end query required to fetch the appropriate row set.Uses the DQE distributed query JDBC driver to execute the query.Returns the result set to the caller.


Unification Platform building blocks (2/2)

Relation Resolving Service and Auto CompleteThe core of the Unification technology.Receives two objects, and finds a path between them, based on the relations from the relationship matrix.Uses the Auto Complete Algorithm to calculate non-direct relationsAuto Complete uses the Dijkstra algorithm to calculate the shortest path between vertices in a graph, where Business Object are the vertices and relations are the edges.Uses foreign key relations from the back-end, manual relations entered by the content developer including bridge relations crossing systemboundaries.

Business Object Semantic LayerA semantic Layer over the PCD persistence for representing the Unification semantic objects.

Business Object semantic objectRelation semantic objectOperation semantic object

Exposes logical interfaces hiding the peculiarities of the persistence layer.


Extendable Unifier Objects

Event/Component Hook Catches the Drag&Relate request event.Enables selection from multiple target Business Objects and multiple relations to them.Dispatches the request to the Drag & Relate Service.

Link ParserSupports multiple link formats by plug-in components.Receives the dragged link.Returns a parsed object representing dragged URL.

Master iView‘Dragged on’ iView for showing Drag&Relate results.Normally, executes a transaction in the back-end system with the proper start-up parameters.Possibly automatically created (Role Migration)


Drag&Relate Flow

Query Editor





Service



R

R

R

R


AutoComplete

R


DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools


BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS

If the target iView has not implemented its own Drag&Relate event handler, the Drag&Relate Event Hook is called, followed by the Component Hook.


Drag&Relate Flow

Query Editor





Service



R

R

R

R


AutoComplete

R


DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools


BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS

The Component Hook identifies the Drag&Relate operation and calls the Drag&Relate service.


Drag&Relate Flow

Query Editor





Service



R

R

R

R


AutoComplete

R


DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools


BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS

The Drag&Relate service looks for a registered Link Parser which is able to parse the draggedValue, in this case the HRNP Link Parser.


Drag&Relate Flow

Query Editor





Service



R

R

R

R


AutoComplete

R


DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools


BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS

The Drag&Relate Service calls the Relation Resolving Service to find the best relation from the Business Object in the parsed draggedValue to one of the Business Objects of the target iView.If the relation is in the Relation Cache it is returned immediately.


Drag&Relate Flow

Query Editor





Service



R

R

R

R


AutoComplete

R


DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools


BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS

The Relation Resolving Service first uses the Business Object Semantic Layer to find if there was a manual relation defined by the content author between the source and target Business Objects.


Drag&Relate Flow

Query Editor





Service



R

R

R

R


AutoComplete

R


DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools


BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS

If there was no manual relation, the Relation Resolving Service uses the DQE JDBC driver to check if there was a relation defined in the EIS (e.g. foreign key).


Drag&Relate Flow

Query Editor





Service



R

R

R

R


AutoComplete

R


DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools


BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS

If there was no EIS relation, the Relation Resolving Service uses the Auto Complete algorithm for finding the best path between the Business Objects.The path is calculated using a series of (manual and EIS) relations, going through intermediate Business Objects (The Dijkstra shortest path algorithm).


Drag&Relate Flow

Query Editor





Service



R

R

R

R


AutoComplete

R


DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools


BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS

The Drag&Relate service passes the parsed draggedValue and found relation to the Unification Controller Service.The Unification Controller Service builds an SQL query that selects all fields from the target Business Object, using the found relation to JOIN the Business Objects, and the draggedValue as a filter in the WHERE clause.


Drag&Relate Flow

Query Editor





Service



R

R

R

R


AutoComplete

R


DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools


BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS

The Unification Controller Service sends the SQL query to the DQE.The DQE parses and executes the query, using specific connectors to connect to specific EISs.If Business Objects from more than one EIS are involved in the query, the DQE partitions it among the relevant connector and joins the results. It returns the ResultSet of the query to the controller.


Drag&Relate Flow

Query Editor





Service



R

R

R

R


AutoComplete

R


DQEJDBC Driver

R

R

R

ConnectorR

EIS

R

PCD

Design Time Tools


BusinessObject

Editor/Import


Editors

R

R

R

DQEServer

Relation Cache

EIS

The ResultSet is returned all the way up to the Component Hook, which puts it on the environment of the running target iView.Now the standard doContentmethod of the target iView is called, and it can take the ResultSet and display it in its own fashion.


Unification Editors


Business Objects Importer

Back-End System Objects

Imported business objects


Relationship Matrix

While importing the system’s objects the relations between them are being imported as well.

The relation matrix present these foreign key relationsand mark them with the key icon.

By using the relationship editor one can define a manual relation between two objects

Manual relation is the way to correlate between objects that were imported from two different systems like BW,R3 and JDBC at this point and later on CRM and more…

Business Objects that were imported with the business object importer


Relationship Matrix and AutoCompleteThe implementation of unification includes an auto complete mechanism.

Ex.Objects: A,B,CExisting Relations: A->B , B->CThe relation A->C will be calculated automatically.

In Order to see the automatically calculated relations , one need to mark the relevant checkbox.

Auto-complete relations are marked with the circle icon


Relationship Editor

Double click on a specific relation will open the relationship matrix editor in which the administrator will be able to create/edit the relation

Relation objects

Relation definition

Via the Relationship Editor objects with different keys can be mapped. Strings of keys can be adapted.e.g Leading zeroes can be deleted or added to the keye.g Entire key fields or parts of it can be deleted


Relationship Editor

An example for a complex relation that can be used in a query


SAP iViews support for Drag & Relate

Drag&Relate target for unification scenarios is an iView which represents:

R3 TransactionBW reportQuery iViewPage with iViews - the Drag&Relate target can also be a portal page.

Several ways to create Drag&Relate target iViewApplication integration wizardRole Migration toolQuery iView wizardURL iView wizard

The target iView must have two properties* set correctlyDrag&Relate Target - should be set to TrueMain Objects - should include the name of the business object/s of the iView

*Both properties values will be set automatically for versions SP9 and upper of the portal platform by the Application Integration and Role Migration


Role Uploader

Choose the import item type (Roles,Transactions,...)The system to import

roles or transactions from.

Insert the role or transaction name(In this case : transaction mm03)

Search the specific role or transaction


Role Uploader

v

Mark the relevant search result

Add it to the list of objects to be imported

Go to the next step


Role Uploader

Update relevant settings and start the upload


Role Uploader

Wait for the upload status to be finished


Role Uploader

Notice that the location of the iView (or iViews) is under

Migrated Content

The „Drag&Relate Target“ and the „Main Object“ properties of the iView are configured automaticallywith needed values for D&R.

The main object of the iView is also being loaded to the portal if it was not loaded yet.


Role Uploader

The Drag&Relate green icon will appear only if the main object of the iView is imported to the portal.This will happen automatically for SP9 and upper

versions of the portal platform


Application Integration Wizard

Target iView for D&R can be „BW Report iView“ or „Transaction iView“. In this scenario the focus is on creating a „Transaction iView“



Update iView name and ID



Choose the type of GUI for example choose „SAP GUI for HTML“ when using ITS



Relevant system for the iView

Name of the Transaction



The „Drag&Relate Target“ and the „Main Object“ properties of the iView are configured automaticallywith needed values for D&R.

The main object of the iView is also being loaded to the portal if it was not loaded yet.



The Drag&Relate green icon will appear only if the main object of the iView is imported to the portal.This will happen automatically for SP9 and upper

versions of the portal platform


Drag &Relate From BW to R/3

D&R from

BW report: Object MATERIAL, key “SunFun/1200 cm3”

on top of

R/3 transaction WG23 with main object BUS1072 (MATERIAL GROUP)



Foreign Key relationR3.BUS1001.OBJECTKEY = R3.BUS1072.MATERIALGROUP1

0Material0Material

BUS1001BUS1001

BUS1072BUS1072

Manual relationBW.0MATERIAL.0MATERIAL = R3.BUS1001.OBJECTKEY

BW

R3

Auto complete completes it to Automatic relationBW.0MATERIAL.0MATERIAL R3.BUS1072.MATERIALGROUP1

Executing SQL query :SELECT R3.BUS1072.* FROM BW.0MATERIAL, R3.BUS1001, R3.BUS1072 WHERE (BW.0MATERIAL.0MATERIAL = R3.BUS1001.OBJECTKEY) AND (R3.BUS1001.OBJECTKEY = R3.BUS1072.MATERIALGROUP1) AND (BW.0MATERIAL.0MATERIAL = ‘SunFun / 1200 cm3’)



Executing SQL query :SELECT R3.BUS1072.* FROM BW.0MATERIAL, R3.BUS1001, R3.BUS1072 WHERE (BW.0MATERIAL.0MATERIAL = R3.BUS1001.OBJECTKEY) AND (R3.BUS1001.OBJECTKEY = R3.BUS1072.MATERIALGROUP1) AND (BW.0MATERIAL.0MATERIAL = ‘SunFun / 1200 cm3’)

OBJECTKEY Description

0201 Motorcycles

Record set with query results

Open the transaction WG23 with the value 0201


Web Target iView

Web Target iView is a D&R target.

During its creation the administrator sets the iView’s web site for example google searchbusiness object and business object property attribute for example Stores and Stores.city

During Run Time, dragging a link representing a specific customer on the iView will search google with the city of the store that specific customer is buying from.


Creating WebTarget iView (1)

Choose „Web Target iView“



Enter website URL. (Website must have at least one input form)

Then click on „Browse“ (see next slide).



Default value forthe input form.

Introduction to Unification and Relation Resolving

introduction to unification · introduction to unification and ... create ui integration of...

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