Tips to Make a Solid Start with Fiori Development

19 February 2016

SAP Fiori, the all-new UX from SAP offered a new opportunity for the SAP developers. Besides allowing unprecedented access to some of the most used SAP processes, this new UX strategy for the first time will allow focus on design more than anything else.

When usefulness and user engagement remains to be the primary driving factor for the majority of app development and design processes, this new UX strategy will address both these aspects of the SAP environment. The key value propositions of SAP Fiori are performance and speed, productivity and cost advantage.

Before offering some experience-driven tips for SAP Fiori developers let us familiarize ourselves with few of the guiding principles concerning SAP Fiori implementation.

Start from business objectives and business process

Fiori is delivered by SAP to add simplicity to your business apps and thus to elevate user experience. Thanks to Fiori apps the users can gain deeper access and engage with the business processes more. It is almost a reinvention of the business process with user-friendly apps. That sounds great and quite impressive. But the main challenge remains to implement this UX as a means to add value to the business process. This is why we are focusing here so intently on implementation part.

Fiori Development with a 5D Approach

5D approach consisting of Define, Discover, Design, Develop, and Deploy can play a really effective role in SAP Fiori development. Basically, this approach simplifies the entire process and helps to create focus areas.

Define: In this step, you can describe the objective, your target audience and desired impact from the app.

Discover: In this step, you need to find ways to simplify user experience and user interface to ensure usefulness and user satisfaction. To find out or discover such ways you can take other Fiori apps or case scenarios as the reference.

Design: In this step, you need to optimize user experience with design elements. You can create wireframes and introduce visual design elements, mock-ups, etc. You can follow some best app design principles or can consult users to make navigation, layout, typography, color scheme, and content flow look better and useful.

Develop: Now this is the execution step involving actual coding. In this step, you need to develop the workable version of the app and then allow integration with the back-end system.

Deploy: In this step, you will deploy your Fiori app after going through extensive unit and integration testing.

Useful development tips that helps to build robust apps

Finally, the journey of a developer with SAP Fiori app projects will invariably have some unique learning scopes. Let us offer below some useful tips from the developer’s point of view.

1) Know SAP Fiori design guidelines

Go to the website of SAP Fiori Design Guidelines and read it to understand the design principles that this UX strategy works upon. There are few design-oriented aspects that you need to remember.

SAP Fiori design elements are not accidental by any means. All design attributes are deliberate in character.
By making use of different design controls, patterns and filters you can achieve your desired design for the app.

2) In-depth knowledge of sap.m and sap.ui library is necessary

The Fiori developers of SAP were the first customers of the UI5 toolkit that includes a sap.m library with a range of controls. For the first few Fiori apps, these first batch of SAP internal developers used these controls for app design needs. For building clean and visually engaging apps they took the building blocks from this toolkit. Till date, this toolkit along with its sam.m library and controls offer a robust pool of tools for designing Fiori apps. Besides that, there are other useful libraries like sap.ui.layout.

A Fiori app is designed by visual building blocks and they are only available at sap.m library. The letter’s’ stands for “mobile”, referring to controls for mobile-friendly responsive design.
Another extensively used and helpful library is the sap.ui.layout library which offers grid controls to develop simple and engaging app layout.
To know about the sap.m library controls go to the Explored app section in the UI5 SDK and the resource will give you a clear idea of how each control works with real app examples. You can also see the codes used in each case.

3) Understanding UI5 toolkit components and routing

Obviously, as a Fiori app developer, you would like to include your app in the Fiori Launchpad to allow navigation to your app from other Fiori apps. Without understanding and integrating the UI5 toolkit components and without routing, you cannot do that.

UI5 components and routing allow outreach to other Fiori apps.
With these two elements, you stand at par and on the same platform with other Fiori apps.

4) Get help through MVC and XML

MVC technically speaking is inseparable with Fiori development. There is a wide range of implications of an MVC based development approach and all of them are good.

First of all, know how the app structure is built through invisible and some screen-sized controls. Then know-how within the structure various views relate to each other.
Most of the lovable SAP Fiori apps used XML for producing definitive views of their apps. Through XML you can create declarative views in a crisp, efficient and clean way.

5) Manipulating both Chrome Developer Tools and UI5 Support Tool

In this new arena of SAP Fiori development, both Chrome Developer Tools along with UI5 Support Tool offer an excellent debugging option to ensure glitch-free app performance and speed.

Chrome offers the most developer-friendly editing tools. Having this tool will take many of your concerns as far as meticulous monitoring and editing are concerned.
Manipulating Chrome Developer tools with support tools of UI5 can ensure superb development and consistent debugging and trace features.

6) Gain expertise in data binding

Data binding is the specialty that allows frontend meeting the backend of an app. To master this skill set you need to focus on a few aspects. Let us have a look at them.

Know the nuances in an object.
Understand property and aggregation bindings.
Understand and learn the intricacies of complex embedded binding syntax.
Learn to specify factory functions, sorting, filtering, grouping, formatting, etc.

7) Learn from other Fiori apps

Finally, it can be revealed to study other Fiori apps and the design practices they adhered to. Though it may sound generic, it actually works as an eye-opener and helps you learn things that you cannot learn otherwise. Learning from existing app instances, you can gain insights on the best practices and the aspects that you still need to master. Often by looking at other people’s code, you come across solutions that were otherwise invisible.

Lucia Patterson

Lucia Patterson is the woman behind TheLegalGuides, a blog solely focused on legal guides, tips, and advice. Lucia loves essay writing and blogs at EssayWritingGuides from her college days.

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Google Getting into Phones – And It’s Changing The Mobile Internet

Ever since its incorporation on September 4, 1998 as a privately held company and later (2004) as a public company through an IPO, Google’s main focus has been, search and innovation. The innovation arm has seen tremendous growth thanks to its team of skilled developers. Based on the company’s projections, the innovation frontier has a high potential for opening up products which may point it to a new direction. Specifically, Google’s foray into phone technology, both hardware, and software, is likely to change the way we interact with our phones, our phone plans and the mobile internet. Recently, the company has made significant developments that may see it offering cheap phone plans, which is a real gamechanger in the telco market. Project Fi Wireless Network Since 2015, Google has been operating its own wireless service known as Project Fi. It does this as a mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) which means it relies on other networks (T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular) to offer mobile data directly to its users much like other carriers. Currently, Project Fi is available only in the US and gives users over a million free and open Wi-Fi hotspots to connect to. Essentially, Project Fi makes Google a go-between for carriers and customers. Your phone network will be supported by the Project Fi partners and you will only deal with Google when it comes to billing and support. The pricing structure of Project Fi is arguably the most eye-opening and innovative of all phone plans. When you sign up for Project Fi, you get the Fi SIM card installed which allows you to make calls over the cellular network (whichever is stronger among-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular) or Wi-Fi if you are in hotspot coverage. Google charges you $20 flat per month for text, calling, and Wi-Fi tethering. Each Gigabyte of data you spend will cost you $10 on top of your bill. However, you won’t be charged for any data not used. On the other hand, if you use more data than expected, you will only be charged for the extra data and nothing more. Project Fi also makes it relatively simple and affordable to add people to your plan. As a matter of fact, you save some money per head the more people you add. Instead of being charged $20 flat, you may be charged $15 plus $10 per GB. Google encryption ensures you are secure as you transition between LTE and Wi-Fi on its network. By being more flexible, affordable, and friendly, Project Fi is likely to give the traditional wireless carriers a run for their money. Read More: Top 5 Digital Wallet Apps For Android Datally App If your phone runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop or a newer version, you can download the Datally app from the Google Play store. This app helps you to monitor and control your data usage per hour, daily, weekly, and on a monthly basis.It also gives you recommendations on how you can save on your mobile data. It comes with a Data Saver feature which if turned on, blocks any background data usage. Whenever you are within Wi-Fi coverage, Datally will alert you so that you can shift to the Wi-Fi hotspot and do your heavy lifting there. Read More: App Development Benefits: Here’s Why You Should Go Mobile Google Investment in HTC and Pixel Flagship Devices In September this year, Google announced that it’s signing an agreement with HTC worth $1.1 billion in exchange for part of HTC’s smartphone team. The deal will see approximately 2,000 HTC staffers join Google. This is the next big purchase by Google after it announced a $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility buyout on August 15, 2011. However, in 2014, it sold off part of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 billion comprising stock and cash while retaining most of the patents. Source: https://static.pexels.com/photos/174938/pexels-photo-174938.jpeg Buying HTC stamps the presence of Google in the hardware development business once again by helping it rollout Pixel Devices. It also means that the company will directly take on other Android partners such as Huawei, Samsung, and LG. Google Embracing SIM Technology Embedded SIM (eSIM) technology helps subscribers to sign up to and change phone companies without the need to swap physical SIM cards. The eSIM-enabled devices allow users to quickly select their preferred carrier from the settings menu on their phones and download the SIM profile over the air. Google doesn’t take credit for the development of eSIM technology, however, it has adapted it for its Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL devices sold through Project Fi and Google Store. In addition, the company launched the eSIM manager app which helps users switch between different carrier profiles and plans. Imagine a future where your Pixel smartphone runs on Project Fi prepaid phone plan, has the Datally app to help you monitor and control your data usage! When you combine this with the possibility of changing your carrier through Google Assistant without swapping your SIM card, it can be truly transformative. The future for Google in the smartphone industry looks bright and if this trajectory progresses, the telco market will experience a real disruption in the coming years. Sources https://fi.google.com/about/faq/#plan-and-pricing-2 https://www.androidcentral.com/using-project-fi-pixel-2s-esim-amazing https://datally.google.com/

How to Save Money When Shopping Online

One thing which attracts most of us: discounts, offers, and freebies! Yes? After all, who doesn’t love discounts? And among all, few of the best things about online shopping is the lowest prices, incredible discounts and getting the products delivered at your doorstep without having to make a move. If you also believe that money saved is money earned, this article is for you! We will discuss a few fantastic ways through which you can save money when shopping online. Let’s get started, and we are sure we will give you some real shopping goals (which will help you save money) by the end of this article. Use coupons This is a no-brainer! Using relevant coupons can help you save quite a bit of money, to be frank about it. There are various third-party websites you can fetch coupons from such as TheKrazyCouponLady and RetailMeNot. If you are shopping on Amazon, you can get discount coupons from their coupon section. Compare prices Generally, different websites sell the same products at different prices. Thus, be smart, and use a price comparison website to find the best deals on the same products offered by different retailers both online and in-store. There are various shopping comparison websites you can make use of including Google Shopping and NexTag. Sign up for a newsletter Signing up for a newsletter is another great way of saving money while shopping online. That's so because newsletters are often sent by the retailers to reach out to more people and to attract them towards latest and best offers. When you sign up for a newsletter, you get exclusive access to the recently released discounts, coupons, and offers which will undoubtedly save money. Use a VPN Unfortunately, online stores tend not to price their products the same for everyone. Most online retailers are smart and keep track of your browsing habits by storing cookies on your computer. These files monitor your shopping habits that help retailers in estimating the amount you are willing to spend, and if they see a tendency for excessive spending, the chances are that they will adjust the prices accordingly. Also, a VPN could come in handy when shopping from abroad. Imagine that you're on vacation and you need to order something back to your house in Germany; however, the e-commerce site in question is only accessible from a German IP. With the help of a VPN service, you can easily change your virtual location on a go. Using a VPN in such a way is also a great way to compare prices in different markets as online retailers can show present different prices based on the shoppers geo-location. Read also: 8 VPN Facts – You Should Know About This is often the case when booking a flight. Thus, it is highly recommended to browse and shop anonymously, with the help of a VPN service as it actively masks your IP address and geographical location. Shop at the right time If you are a savvy shopper, you already know that major online retailers keep on changing the prices of items throughout the day. Thus, the same product could be priced differently in the morning and then later in the evening. The way to find the best price is to check the cost of your product several times a day before checking it out. Alternatively, you can also make use of tools like CamelCamelCamel which monitor price changes and issues an alert whenever the price goes down. Further, it is a common trend that prices of the products often go down after a significant event, like Christmas Day, Easter, or Halloween. Check for free shipping A lot of retailers offer free shipping from time to time. However, if your favorite online store is not generous enough, and if you shop online quite often, it is always a good idea to become a member of free shipping websites like FreeShipping.com which provide free shipping for an array of online retailers. Leave items in your cart Have you ever noticed that whenever you leave items in your cart, your retailer attempts to close the deal by sending lucrative emails like ‘your items are selling fast,’ or ‘your items are on discount’? That's so because retailers want you to shop and prevent you from abandoning the shopping cart. Use this to your advantage and leave items in your cart to save money. Earn Cash backs You can also save by earning cashback. Various retailers offer cashback when you shop using specific credit cards, or when you shop for a certain amount of money. Just examine various conditions, and you can easily end up saving a lot of money. Shop at home and pick up in store Shopping at home and picking the item from the store would not only help you in saving shipping charges but also means that you could get a hold of your purchase quicker. Over to You These are a few tried and tested tricks which can come in handy the next time you shop. So, save more to splurge more! Do not forget to share your favorite online shopping trick with is in the comments below! Read Also: The Clever Consumer’s Guide To Shopping Online Ways To Spice Up Your Online Shopping Of Apparels

Looking For The Best YouTube To MP3 Downloader? Here Are 5 Things To Note

Have you come across a new beat by a famous DJ on YouTube to MP3 downloader and want to save it in MP3? Do you want to create something on your own using the best and want easy access to the audio? Are you aware of great software that helps you convert YouTube videos into MP3 audio files? In this article, we will look at why millions of people around the world are looking at YouTube to MP3 downloader. We will also help you choose the best one for your personal use. However, before we begin, let us look at some of the advantages of using Youtube to mp3 downloader. Advantages of a YouTube Video to MP3 Audio Converter 1. Overcome poor internet connectivity- If you want to stream videos in high resolution, you need a super steady and powerful internet connection. However, with the Coronavirus lockdown, most people are using the internet on an increasing scale. This means that buffering and streaming videos have become very difficult. If you are using a YouTube to MP3 converter, you can keep all these problems away. Simply enter the video URL in your extension and get your audio file downloaded. 2. Fix YouTube’s No-Background Streaming problem- Every time we try to look up a new notification on our phone screen, YouTube stops playing. Millions of people all over the world have expressed dissatisfaction over YouTube not playing in the background. With a YouTube to MP3 downloader, you can save yourself from this frustration, for the last time. Simply download the video, convert it into an audio file and play it on your phone’s media player. 3. No Video Loading means ‘Time Saved’- If you want to watch a video, you need to click on the play button on YouTube and wait for the video to buffer. This problem is compounded if you have a poor network. If you cumulate all the time that you have kept waiting for videos to buffer, you could have learned how to play the guitar! If you have a great converter at your disposal, you can save so much time. You can utilize all the time saved productively in some other manner. 5 Things to Note before choosing a YouTube to MP3 Converter: The List Select software that does not come with bundled extras- Most YouTube to MP3 downloader on the market come with additional software that you will never need. This not only defeats the purpose of the converter but also irritates you when it comes to getting unnecessary updates all the time. It is best to stay away from such software. This also leads to obtrusive ads, pop-ups, and many more problems. Go for a reputed and trusted brand software- You need to consider security when it comes to such software. It is impossible to keep a track of what you are giving the software access to. However, if you are working with reputed brands you can ensure that they are safe enough to be trusted. They would not want their names to be dragged into any data security issues. Choose software that converts from all Social Media platforms- You might be using the converter primarily for YouTube, but it is always best to have one that works on Facebook and Instagram as well. This will help you convert videos from all the social platforms with ease into video as well as audio. You will get convenience, ease of usage and many more benefits. The Converter Software should not have a limit or some time restrictions- While there are many options out there when it comes to converters, nearly all of them suffer from one single problem. They impose some form of time limit or the number of videos you can download and convert. This will give you complete peace of mind when it comes to downloading or converting as many videos as you want into video and audio formats. Choose a converter software, which is not slow- It has been found that some conversion software gets unnecessarily slow after some time. While the reason for the same cannot be pinpointed, it is often the result of slow server speeds. This is why it is best to work with reputed brands, which have their own servers. This does not allow the process to slow down at any time. Conclusion People download and convert videos from YouTube and other platforms for many reasons. To help them personally learn a new skill for saving entertainment for some special occasion. No matter what your requirement a good conversion software will help you attain your goals.

Tips to Make a Solid Start with Fiori Development