Web UI Technical Overview

How does Web UI Work?

GuiXT Web UI sits on three important architectural concepts.

1. GuiXT Fuzion Server: GuiXT Fuzion Server acts as a communicator between web server and R/3 database and transfers the information coming from R/3 which is requested by users to web server or vice versa.
2. Web Server: Web Server hosts necessary javascript files which stores specific functions that control actions on SAP screen elements, and library files to render SAP screens.
3. iViews: iViews are simply application or a service that can be visualized in a web browser. GuiXT application runs through an iView in Enterprise Portal. As each iView does, roles must be defined and assigned to users to execute GuiXT iView.
4. Browser: Browser acts as a lightweight client to display the iViews created in a portal environment. Web UI Suite is available in both Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers.

Two EPA files (Enterprise Portal Archive) are provided in the installation of Web UI Suite. One enables to create a single sign on with user mapping. The other enables to create single sign on with logon ticket. Once either of these files is imported in portal, the necessary structure for GuiXT iView is created automatically. Once import is finished, GuiXT Fuzion roles need to be associated to user accounts. With the import of EPA file, the backend system is also defined in System Administration. The backend connection of GuiXT iView is displayed from Content Administration section. The URL in this section points to the main HTML page in GuiXT iView which is hosted in Fuzion Server. In the system that is created, the logon method is selected either as user mapping or logon ticket depending on the EPA file that is imported.

Developers can connect to multiple SAP ERP systems in Web UI Suite. This can be configured through System Administration in Enterprise Portal by specifying the application server and the port in URL of the web application. Once the single sign on configuration is done, user can view GuiXT modifications through GuiXT iView. Modifications are displayed with the help of GuiXT that resides in Fuzion Server which is configured to read GuiXT Scripts that could be stored in below locations.

• Scripts reside on GuiXT Fuzion Server
• Scripts reside on web/ftp server
• Scripts reside on a local drive (Recommended for development)
• Scripts reside on web repository ("Versioning" is recommended to reduce network traffic)

What is the architecture and topology?

As seen above, GuiXT can run as a standalone. Standalone application acts as a web server that runs on a local host. Dispatcher is a load balancing technology which can be used with Web UI for error recovery. It creates Fuzion instances based on the CPU capacity.

How does GuiXT Offline interact with SAP ERP?

Web UI communicates directly with mySAP ERP application server as seen in the architecture and can only render standard SAP Dynrpo screens.